


A Little Too Much

by aussie_direction (gayalmighty)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bottom Louis, College, Fanfiction, Gay, Innocent Harry, M/M, Top Harry, University, University Student Harry, University Student Louis, direction, gaylove, stylinson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 38,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4168806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayalmighty/pseuds/aussie_direction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Marry Me."   "What?"<br/>In which Harry and Louis are university students and are dating. And maybe Harry loves Louis a little too much and maybe its suffocating Louis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Louis pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose as he frantically scribbled out the last couple of sentences of his Literature paper that was due the next day. He hated leaving things to the last minute, yet somehow he had completely forgotten about this one assignment that his favorite professor had given out, so he knew he had to do it.   
“Here we are.” Harry said as he sat down on the couch beside him, a bowl of popcorn in his arms as he waited for his boyfriend to finish up his work.  
“M’sorry.” Louis muttered, not looking up as he continued to write, occasionally stopping to scan his perfectly highlighted notes.  
“It’s okay.” Harry breathed out with a smile. “I don’t mind waiting.”  
Louis still didn’t look up as he got to the end of the page and finally finished the essay with a grin.  
“There,” he announced, holding it up. “That should do. After all, what more can I write about Charlotte Bronte?”  
“Good, boo.” Harry complimented him, kissing him on the head before standing up and walking over to the DVD player.   
They were in Harry’s apartment having a movie night. Just a typical Friday night for the two university students.   
“What are we watching?” Louis asked, settling back into the couch as he hugged a cushion to his chest and removed his glasses.  
Harry turned around and pressed play on the TV before returning to the couch where he put his arm out for Louis to cuddle into.  
“Thanks.” Harry said as he reached into the bowl and took handful of the buttery snack.  
“You didn’t answer my question.” Louis pointed out, poking Harry’s cheek playfully.  
“The Road to El Dorado.” Harry replied. “It’s funny, okay?” He justified with a laugh.  
“Okay,” Louis rolled his eyes and leant his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder as the film began.  
Harry smiled and gave Louis a squeeze, unbelievably happy at the way his life was going. He was a good student with friends who cared about him and a boyfriend who he was undeniably in love with.  
He looked down at Louis and took a deep breath.  
“Marry me.” Harry asked out of the blue, his eyes sparkling excitedly. “I love you, Louis.”  
Louis lifted his head off Harry’ shoulder and looked at him in shock. He picked up the remote and paused the movie they were watching before shuffling back on the couch, away from him.  
“H-Harry, what?” Louis stuttered.  
“Come here, silly.” Harry shook his head and held his hand out but Louis stood up in an attempt to get further away, looking down at Harry confessedly.  
Harry’s face was a picture of hope and happiness, not having picked up on Louis’ panicked tone.  
“Louis, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me, please?” He asked again, standing up also and grasping their hands together. He stepped forward and attempted to kiss him, but Louis stumbled backwards and fell over the coffee table.  
“Lou!” Harry exclaimed, rushing to his side. “Are you okay?”  
“Y-Yeah, I-” Louis began, pushing Harry away as he tried to stand up by himself. “Harry what are you talking about.”  
Harry blushed and took one of his hands before kneeling down in front him, a smile on his face.  
“Louis Tomlinson,” Harry began as Louis started shaking his head. “I love you to the moon and back, and even though it hasn’t been long-”  
“Harry, we’ve been dating for 5 months.” Louis stated.  
“The best 5 months of my life,” Harry replied. “I know it’s not long, but when you’re in love and you know…” He took a deep breath. “Louis, will you marry me?”  
“Harry, I’m 19 years old. I’m in my second year of university. I can’t get married.” Louis answered, his voice getting faster and higher as he went on.  
“Don’t you love me?” Harry asked, his face dropping at the rejection.  
Louis frowned, pulling his hand out of Harry’s and stepping further backwards. “I’m 19, you’re only 20 for Godsakes. We can’t get married, we hardly know each other and it’s only been 5 months, Harry. I can’t- We can’t- I just…. I don’t- know.”  
Louis started rambling and working himself up as his breathing got faster and he shook his head repeatedly.  
“Louis…” Harry began, standing up and moving towards him with outstretched arms, but Louis batted them away. “Louis, I love you.”  
“Stop saying that!” Louis snapped.  
And it all went downhill from there.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis spotted his best friend leaning on the fence and he smiled to himself as he looked out his 4th-storey window at him. Zayn crossed his arms over his chest as he waited, so Louis quickly grabbed his bag and jacket from the couch before locking the door and hurrying down to meet him.  
Louis smiled as he pulled his jacket and exited the building.  
“Hey man,” Zayn greeted as Louis came towards him. “What’s up?”  
“Not much,” Louis replied. “Yourself?”  
“Yeah, not much.” Zayn answered as they started walking down the street towards the coffee shop where their group of friends got coffee every morning before class.  
Louis nodded and kept quiet, quieter than usual, and Zayn noticed.  
“But seriously, what’s up?” He asked with a frown. “Usually you and Harry meet us at the shop together? What’s the deal? Is is sick or something?”  
“No.” Louis shook his head. “Can’t I ask my best friend to walk with me?” he added with a laugh.  
“Not when you have a lovely boyfriend who dotes on your every need.” Zayn replied.  
Louis laughed a little and shook his head, not saying anything.  
“Okay,” Zayn drawled out, raising an eyebrow at his friend’s weird behavior. “Is everything okay? Is he okay?”  
“He’s fine.” Louis replied. “I think.” He added as an after thought.  
“You think?”  
“Yeah, we haven’t spoken in a few days.” Louis answered nonchalantly.  
“Um, why?” Zayn pressed.  
Louis shrugged and kept walking, not answering the question.  
“Oh woah.” Zayn shook his head. “No, you have to tell me now! You can’t just do that and not explain yourself.”  
“What?” Louis asked.  
“You cannot just shrug. Now I know something’s up. Spill.” Zayn said.  
Louis shrugged yet again and shook his head.  
“Louis.”  
“Yes?”  
“Tell me.”  
“We broke up.” Louis finally answered and Zayn froze as Louis kept walking.  
“Um, excuse me?” Zayn spoke up, making Louis turn around. He was standing there in disbelief, wide eyed and full of questions.  
Louis laughed, shaking his head as he walked back to his friend, grabbed his arm and pulled him to start walking again.  
“We broke up.” Louis repeated. “Friday night.”  
“Today is Monday.” Zayn stated.  
“Yes?” Louis asked, not sure what he was getting at.  
“And so for the past 2 days you just forgot to tell me?” Zayn asked. “What the hell, man?”  
“Sorry.” Louis mumbled.  
“So, you broke up?” Zayn asked again.  
“Yeah,” Louis replied with a nod, hands deep in his pockets as he looked at the ground.  
“Wait, actually?” Zayn asked. “I’m sorry, but this doesn’t seem real. You’re LouisandHarry.”  
“Yeah.” Louis nodded as he continued watching the ground, kicking a stone as they walked. “Well, we’re not any more.”  
“What happened?” He asked. “I thought things were great.”  
Louis let out a long breath, remembering that night a few days ago. He still hadn’t cried and shockingly, he wasn’t all that upset about it, he was just tired. He felt emotionally drained.  
He did really like Harry and he thought things were going great, that he might even actually fall for him one day, but it had only been a few months and it wasn’t all that serious either. Just a lot of fun. Well, until Harry made it overly serious.  
“He asked me to marry him.” He began.  
“HE WHAT!” Zayn exclaimed, turning to his friend as he almost shouted.  
“Sh!” Louis laughed, punching his friend’s shoulder. “Shut up you idiot!”  
“He did what?” Zayn lowered his voice, but only a little. He was still freaking out.  
“He asked me to marry him, a few times actually.” Louis explained.  
“And? What happened then?” Zayn pressed, very curious. His eyes were wide and he didn’t know what to think.  
Harry and Louis had been together since the start of the school year. It was a known thing that they were a couple and them breaking up was simply unbelievable.  
“Well, I told him no, obviously.” Louis continued. “Then he got upset, saying that he loved me over and over and that’s when I realized that he was just way too clingy. So I broke it off. I mean, I did really like him and he was a great boyfriend, but… I don’t know. He was just there, all the time.”  
Zayn nodded but didn’t say anything, so Louis continued.  
“It was fun while it lasted, but he just got weird about it.” Louis commented. “  
“But you were so cute!” Zayn commented. “And the way he cared about you was adorable.”  
Louis smiled a little at the memory. Harry really was a good boyfriend. He always bought him coffee in the mornings. He walked him to class. He gave him his jacket when he was cold. And he always kissed him with so much care, every single time.  
Louis looked down and shook the memories away. He needed to move on. They weren’t together anymore.  
“You okay?” Zayn asked, noticing he had fallen quiet.  
Louis shrugged again. “Well, I don’t know about him, but I’m okay, yeah. He might not be, so can we not mention it this morning?” He asked and Zayn nodded.  
“You sure?” He asked. “You know I’m here mate, if you need.”  
Louis nodded. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”  
“Sure.” Zayn smiled and the two continued their way to meet their friends at the coffee shop where the exes would meet for the first time since the break up.


	3. Chapter 3

It was cold for June, and Harry could feel it as he pulled his coat up around his ears. He wasn’t in the mood for a Monday and he most certainly was not in the mood for class, even if it was his favorite one.  
Since Friday’s events, he wasn’t really in the mood for anything except lying in bed and crying.  
His friend, Niall, walked along side him in silence as the two made their way to the coffeehouse to meet their friends before class.  
“You feeling better today, buddy?” He asked and Harry shook his head.  
As soon as Louis had left on Friday night, Harry had called Niall, who had come running over to console the crying boy.  
Harry was a mess, to say the least. He really loved Louis and thought that they were going to be together for a long time. The break up was hard and Harry didn’t know what to do, so he called his best friend who brought chocolate and movies to make him feel better.  
“No, Niall.” Harry replied, keeping his eyes down.  
Niall didn’t know what to say, so he kept walking in silence.  
“It’ll be okay,” He said after a while as the two continued walking.  
“No it won’t be.” Harry replied as he felt himself falling apart again.  
He tried to hold it together as he felt the tears coming again. He was trying to be strong but he was just so cut up inside, it was nearly impossible.  
“Harry-” Niall put a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but he just shrugged it off.  
“Don’t.” Harry shook his head as his face crumpled. “I can’t-”  
He stopped walking and wiped his face, pressing his hands into his eyes as he tried not to cry in the middle of the street.  
Niall stopped next to him and pulled him in for a hug, rubbing his back in solace.  
“It will be, man.” He whispered and Harry pulled away, trying to keep on walking.  
“He yelled at me.” Harry explained. “He got angry, and he was shouting at me.”  
“He was probably just caught off guard or something, I mean, it’s a pretty big question.” Niall offered.  
“H-He broke up with me, because I loved him.” Harry said in confusion. “Because I love him.”  
Niall didn’t want to interrupt, so he stayed quiet as they slowly walked down the street.  
“I don’t understand…” Harry whispered. “I don’t-” He broke off to sniffle, partially because of the cold and partially because of the crying.  
“T-The shouting… and he never said that he loved me back.” He added in a small voice. “I-I must have said it at least 10 times, before, during and after the… uh, when I asked him. And he never said it back.”  
Niall offered him a sympathetic look in response before he kept talking.  
“It just… It made me think. Did he even love me? Was I blind or something and made it all up in my head? Was he even real? Niall, I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do…”  
“Harry.” Niall replied. “He was real. In fact, we’re going to see him in like, 2 minutes, so I’ll tell you what you need to do. You need to be okay, you think you can do that?”  
Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes again, getting rid of the last few tears.  
“I don’t know… We haven’t spoken since Friday, I don’t know what he’ll say, what he’ll do, what he’ll look like, if he did his hair the same way he always does, if he cried, if he’s fine, if he regrets it, if he even thought about me since.” Harry rambled, getting more and more worked up. “What if he doesn’t care? Niall I don’t know what I’m gonna do if he feels nothing at all. I don’t know if I could bare knowing that the entire relationship was nothing to him.”  
“Harry,” Niall said, grabbing both his shoulders. “Harry, calm down. You’re gonna be fine.”  
“It was so bad,” Harry whispered, closing his eyes as he head tipped to the ground. “All I can think about is that night, it’s been replaying in my head all weekend.”  
“It’s going to be okay.” Niall reassured him, linking their arms so that he could pull him towards the shop. “You’ll be okay.”  
“I don’t know if I can do this…” Harry hesitated in front the door. “I don’t know if I can face-”  
“You can.” Niall stated confidently.  
“Niall, you weren’t there, you don’t know-”  
“But I was there straight after, and you’ve told me everything.” Niall replied. “There was you asking the question, then there was Louis freaking out, then there was you trying to convince him to say yes, then there was him-”  
“I get it.” Harry cut him off.  
They walked around the corner to where the coffee shop sat and Niall directed them through the door to their usual seat.  
The place was busy, the hustle and bustle of the coffee grinders and people chatting filling the boys’ ears as they went to their table and sat down.  
“I’m gonna order.” Niall told Harry before going up to the counter.  
Harry nodded and went to their table, nervously waiting for the others to show.  
He wanted to see Louis, to know if he regretted the break up. But if that meant seeing Louis completely normal, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be there.  
He let out a long breath and put his head in his arms on the table as Niall returned and put a hand on his back.  
They didn’t notice the bell ring when the coffee shop door opened and more customers entered.  
“Hey.”  
Harry’s head snapped up at the sound of Zayn’s voice. He knew what that meant, Louis was going to be just behind him. He sat up and tried to look presentable, not wanting to appear vulnerable.  
“Hello, lads.” Louis popped out from behind Zayn to sit diagonally across from Harry, who watched with wide eyes as his ex acted like everything was fine.  
Lads? Harry couldn’t believe he was just referred to as a lad by the man he was in love with. He didn’t want to be just a lad in Louis’ eyes.  
He gulped and didn’t offer a reply, so Niall did.  
“Hey.” He replied with a brief smile.  
Harry looked sneakily at Louis out of the corner of his eye as Zayn and Niall started a conversation to break with silence.  
He expected his eyes to be red at least, maybe he’d lost a little sleep over it. His hair could have been a little messed up like he couldn’t be bothered or maybe he could have been a little more upset. But no, he looked perfect, as per usual, and Harry didn’t understand why.  
He was a mess and there Louis was, looking like an angel.  
The only thing he knew was that it wasn’t fair. He was supposed to hurting too.   
“Harry?”   
Niall’s voice made him finally tear his eyes away from his ex.   
“Hm?” He asked.  
“Zayn asked you a question.” Niall prompted, but he was met with confused eyes.  
“You have history class next, right?” Zayn asked him, trying to make conversation and Harry nodded.  
“Right,” He nodded back, unsure how to act in response to the broken boy’s antisocial behavior. “Have you ordered?” Zayn asked and Niall nodded his head.   
“Yeah, they should be ready, actually. Help me carry them?” He asked.  
“Sure,” Zayn replied, nervously looking to Louis to see if it would be okay to leave him alone with Harry. Louis nodded, silently reassuring him that it would be fine so the two of them got up and went to the counter to collect their drinks. Harry didn’t hear any of the conversation, gazing off into the distance as Louis nervously played with his hands, before looking up at Harry for the first time that morning.  
“How are you?” Louis broke the silence, making Harry turn his eyes to the one person he really didn’t want to talk to.  
“F-Fine.” He stumbled, silently cursing himself for not being able to reply without showing his emotions. That was always his fatal flaw. Harry could never conceal how he was feeling. “You?” He asked.  
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He answered, looking down at the table as Harry’s eyes got harsher and colder. He was beginning to realize that Louis wasn’t just acting okay, he was okay.  
“Good.” Harry spat, not believing what he was seeing. He really was fine.  
Louis nodded and much to Harry’s dismay, offered him a small smile. Harry couldn’t help but wonder how on earth he thought it was appropriate to smile.  
Before Harry could retaliate, the other two boys came back with their drinks.  
They sat down and gave Harry and Louis theirs as they sat down into the awkward silence that Harry and Louis had created.  
Harry looked up again at Louis, but Zayn had already started a conversation with him that had him smiling and laughing, which almost made Harry cry.  
He didn’t understand, he really didn’t. It was killing him to see Louis like that.  
Eventually, Louis glanced his way and gave another small smile, trying to ease the tension, but Harry couldn’t do anything except look back with hurt in his eyes.  
“Lou, you gonna come to mine tonight? Niall’s coming.” Zayn asked. “We’re gonna have a FIFA contest.”  
“Yeah, alright.” Louis happily replied, making Harry groan.  
“Harry?” Niall asked.  
“What?” Harry retorted.  
“You wanna come too?” Zayn asked.  
“To what?” Harry questioned, having not listened to the conversation.  
“To my place for FIFA tonight?” Zayn replied. “A friend of mine from home has just moved here and I said I’d introduce him to a few friends. Plus, who doesn’t like premier league? Its Liverpool-Arsenal tonight, boys.” He added with a small laugh, which Louis joined in on, making Harry narrow his eyes.  
“Sure, why not.” Harry emotionlessly answered.  
“Cool,” Zayn chirped. “You guys can come round at around 7 to watch Liverpool kick ass.”  
“Great,” Louis replied with a grin. “Looking forward to it.”  
“Um, no way.” Niall replied with a girn. “Arsenal’s gonna absolutely cream them.”  
“Nah huh!” Louis retorted with a laugh. “Liverpool’s got this in the bag, innit Harry?”  
He turned to look at the poor boy, but was only met with Harry’s broken eyes.  
He shook his head in disbelief, biting his tongue, before standing up and grabbing his coffee. He didn’t want to stick around any more, for fear of saying something he didn’t mean. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut about Louis for much longer.  
“I’m gonna go,” Harry mumbled, keeping his head down. “Gotta go to class.”  
Before anyone could stop him, he was out the door, wiping the tears that were streaming down his face.  
He was heartbroken all over again. He honestly thought that Louis would have felt something, anything, after their break up. But he was fine, laughing even. He was acting just like it used to be when they all hung out, except Harry was dying inside.  
He squeezed his red, puffy eyes closed and took a deep breath as he headed to campus for his history class, wondering to himself what happened.  
If what we had was real, how could you be fine?


	4. Chapter 4

As Harry left the coffeehouse behind, the only thing he could see in his mind was Louis laughing and smiling.  
He wondered what Louis was thinking about, what he was saying back in the coffee shop with their friends. He wondered whether or not he felt guilty for making Harry feel that way. For making Harry feel loved when clearly he never felt the same way.  
He thought about the way things used to be…  
.  
“Come on, Harry.” Louis laughed, pulling his boyfriend along as they went to meet their friends.  
It was a lovely Spring day as the couple swung their hands, joyfully strolling down the street.  
“I’m coming, Boo.” Harry chuckled, pulling their intertwined hands so Louis spun around and Harry could wrap his arms around his waist from behind.   
Louis smiled to himself as he leant his back against Harry’s chest and the two of them slowly walked towards the shop, their legs moving in sync like they were one person.  
Louis hummed happily before untangling himself from Harry’s embrace and walking next to him normally.  
Harry pouted, but kept Louis’ hand firmly in his.  
“Lou.” He whined.  
“Yes, Harry?” Louis asked, feigning innocence as he gave Harry a grin.  
“Come back,” He asked, trying to grab his waist again, but Louis just giggled and set off running. “Lou!”  
“Catch me if you can!” Louis squealed as he darted into the park across from their destination.  
Harry smiled as his heart swelled. Louis looked so cute, running across the grass with a huge grin. Harry had never felt so in love.  
Harry started running after him and soon caught up. He threw his arms around him and pulled them both to the ground as Louis let out a loud laugh, it taking over as he clutched his stomach and rolled around.  
Harry sat up on one elbow and looked down at him fondly.   
“Hi,” Louis giggled.  
“Hi.” Harry replied, smiling at the beautiful sigh below him. Louis’ hair was splayed out on the grass and his blue eyes were shining with happiness. Harry had never thought he had looked more perfect.  
All of a sudden, Harry surged down and captured his lips in his. Louis hummed and wrapped his fingers around Harry’s long curls as he pulled him closer. Harry’s hands went either side of his head as he tried to show Louis all the love in the world in that kiss.  
Louis was the first to pull back and roll out from underneath his boyfriend. Harry’s eyes were still closed as he felt his presence move away, still dazed from the kiss. It never failed to leave him breathless that the perfect boy was his.  
“C’mon,” Louis stood up and held a hand out to help Harry up as well. “Let’s go.”  
Harry took his hand, stood up and pulled Louis’ body against his, giving him one more kiss before they linked hands again and went across the street to where their friends were waiting.  
.  
Harry felt tears prick his eyes as he walked past that park, looking to the spot where he and Louis used to lay and have picnics.  
He saw the spot where they had kissed and exchanged ‘I love you’s, though he wasn’t quite sure they ever meant anything. If it really was love, surely things would be different. Surely Harry wouldn’t be alone on his way to class.  
They always used to walk together to and from their lectures.   
Harry pushed Louis from his mind once he’d rounded the corner and got onto campus. He decided that he was allowed to be mopey in private, but he was going to act totally fine in public. Since that was what Louis was doing, he would do the same.  
He wiped his eyes quickly and put his signature ‘happy’ face on as his traipse turned to a stride with his change of demeanor, making his way across the quad. He let out a deep breath and hoped his face wasn’t too red from the tears.  
He swung open the door to building D and smiled at a group of freshman that were openly staring at him, before heading to the room his history class was in.  
As he treaded through the hallways, he smiled and waved at everyone who greeted him.   
“Hey Harry.”  
“Hi Harry.”  
“What’s up, Harry.”  
For each person who cheerily spoke to him and smile he had to then return, he felt the hole in his heart grow a little more. Nothing meant as much to him as hearing kind and loving words from Louis. Without them, hearing things like that from others just made him hurt.  
He wasn’t overly popular, but he was a nice guy, so he did have quite a few acquaintances, although most of them were due to him having Louis and his chatty personality with him all the time.  
However, when he pushed open the doors to the lecture theatre to see only a few of his classmates already there, he realized he didn’t really know any of them.  
But what really caught his eye was some guy he had never seen before sitting up in the back row of the theatre all alone.  
And he was attractive, Harry thought, his hair was quiffed to perfection and his facial hair just added to the rugged look that Harry thought was just so damn good.  
Usually, he would never take notice of other guys, because he had his Lou, but this boy was just exceptionally beautiful.  
Harry thought the newbie must have changed classes and didn’t know anyone in this one, so he went up to the back row and sat down next to him, trying to be friendly.  
Nervously, he looked at him out the corner of his eye before taking a deep breath and turning to him with a smile.  
It kind of reminded him of the first time he spoke to Louis, except that was in a bathroom and ended in much more embarrassing circumstances.  
“Hey,” Harry said with an heir of confidence. “I haven’t seen you in here before. You transfer classes or something?”  
“Um,” the kid replied with a nervous smile. “I just moved here a couple days ago, I’m new to town, actually.”  
“Oh,” Harry nodded. “That’s cool. Do you know anyone here?”  
“Yeah,” The kid smiled. “I have one friend from home that lives here now.”  
“Cool,” Harry replied, not really knowing what else to say. “Have you made many friends yet?”  
“Um, not really.” The guy looked down sheepishly. “I’ve just been settling into my dorm, really.”  
“Well, you have a friend now,” Harry grinned, holding his hand out. “I’m Harry.”  
“Liam,” The guy answered, taking his hand and shaking it. “And thanks.”  
Harry thought to himself that Liam was a very nice name, perfectly fitting since he was a very nice guy. He was polite and lovely, and not to mention gorgeous.   
Harry looked out of the corner of his eye to see him typing something in his phone, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth adorably as he did, making Harry’s stomach swirl with butterflies.   
As much as he still loved Louis, and he probably would for a very long time, he still couldn’t help feeling attracted to this new guy. Especially with all the little things he kept doing without even realizing.  
“Good morning, class.” The professor announced as he walked into the room. “How are we?”  
As Harry looked around, he saw the rest of his class had arrived, filling up most of the seats. They collectively mumbled a reply as Harry pulled out his notebook.  
“Aw,” Liam cooed, looking at the cover of Harry’s book with an affectionate smile. “Who’s that?”  
Harry looked down at his book and saw the picture of him and Louis he had stuck on the front along with all the little red hearts around it.  
He frowned a little and quickly opened the book to a new page, trying to cover up the photo. He had thought about taking it off, but it was the cutest picture of the two of them and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.  
“Um,” He replied as he furrowed his eyebrows. “He’s my, uh, ex.”  
“Oh,” Liam replied in a soft voice as he placed a hand on Harry’s leg. “I’m sorry.”  
“Don’t be,” Harry shook his head with a little smile. “It doesn’t matter.”  
Liam nodded to himself and silently pulled out his book too, grabbing out a pen with it.  
The teacher grabbed out a whiteboard marker and began to write dates on the board along with names and notes about each of them.  
“Now, King Henry the 4th’s reign was…”  
Harry robotically copied down everything the professor wrote on the board into his notes, but he wasn’t really listening to what he was saying about them.   
By the end of class, he had filled 2 pages on one King, which he would have to re read later on because he couldn’t recall what he had written down.  
“You’re assignment this week is to write a paper on this prompt,” He pointed to the board at a sentence we would have to write 2000 words on. “I suggest working with someone to get all the information, but you will have to hand in individual essays. It’ll be due next Monday.”  
Liam and Harry both turned to look at each other at the same time, then turned away quickly and blushed.  
“Do you, um, want to work together?” Liam asked the other boy as he nervously looked back up.  
Harry could practically see the hope in his eyes as he nodded back.  
“Class dismissed,” Professor waved a hand, letting the class get up and leave.  
Harry and Liam both stood and walked out of the room together.  
“Hey, I’m hanging out with some mates tomorrow night, do you want to come?” Harry asked as they stopped in the corridor.  
“Uh, I’m actually busy the next few nights.” He said apologetically. “My friend is taking me out to see the town and stuff.”  
“Sure,” Harry shook his head with a smile. “Well, um, did you want to work on that thing together, sometime?”  
Liam grinned and nodded. “Yeah.”  
“Okay,” Harry replied before turning slightly to leave. “Um, I’ll see you in class.”  
As he took a couple steps away, he was stopped.  
“Wait!” He turned around when he felt Liam grab his arm. “Should we, um, exchange numbers or something,” He blushed as he asked “For the assignment, I mean?”  
“Yeah, sure.” Harry answered before they exchanged phones with a nervous excitement.  
“Done,” Harry announced before they switched back phones. “I’ll, um- We’ll talk later,” Harry looked down at the new contact name. “Li.”  
Liam grinned as Harry used the nickname he had put himself in the phone as, before he looked down at Harry’s contact.  
“Sure, Haz.”  
Harry bashfully looked away at his use of the nickname he had typed in as butterflied erupted in his stomach.  
They exchanged one last smile before splitting off down the hallway in different directions and Harry realized, that that class had been the longest time he had spent not thinking of Louis.  
Harry smiled to himself. He was making progress, and Liam definitely helped.  
And he liked making new friends and he could already tell that he and Liam would be good friends, he was a kind lad and they got along well.  
All I knew was a simple name and everything had changed


	5. Chapter 5

After their morning class, neither Louis nor Zayn had any more classes on a Monday, so they took a football and kicked it around at the park.  
“Hey Louis,” Zayn piped up as he kicked the ball to his mate. “Did you speak to Harry this morning? You know, like, before he left?”  
Louis shrugged nonchalantly as he received Zayn’s pass. “Not really.” He replied. “I mean, I asked him how he was and he said fine, but that was all. Why?”  
“Just wondering, since he left in a bit of a tizzy.” Zayn asked.  
Louis just shrugged, pretending he didn’t notice anything different about Harry than usual.   
“Are you sure you didn’t say anything?” Zayn asked again, seeing as thought Louis wasn’t going to reply. All he wanted was for his friend to be okay, but he wasn’t giving him anything.  
“I don’t think so…” Louis trailed off as he kicked the ball back.  
“C’mon Louis, he was upset, didn’t you see the red around his eyes?” Zayn asked, stopping the ball again.   
“No…” He mumbled back, lying through his teeth. He knew very well what Harry looked like, he just didn’t like to think about the fact that it was his fault.  
“Louis,” Zayn stated, kicking the ball to him. “He looked like he was about to burst into tears when he left.”  
“And that’s my fault?” Louis scoffed as he returned the pass.  
“Well he’s hurting,” Zayn offered. “And when Niall and I came back with the drinks, he was just, I don’t know, extra upset, I guess.”  
“Because I spoke to him?” Louis continued, not believing what he was hearing. “Don’t you think I’m hurting too? I was in that relationship too, Zayn. This hurts me too.”  
“I know, I know.” Zayn answered as he stopped the ball under his foot. “But I think he’s just, I don’t know, taking it harder, I guess.”  
“He seemed fine to me…” Louis said under his breath  
“Louis,” Zayn rose an eyebrow as he passed the ball. “He was clearly not fine.”  
Louis rolled his eyes and kicked the ball to Zayn who immediately kicked the ball back. “Well, he seemed okay to me. I mean, he said words, I said words. Nothings wrong there.”  
“Louis-” Zayn tried.  
“It’s not my problem anymore, Zayn.” Louis snapped, kicking the ball way too hard so it flew past Zayn, skimming his head. “We’re not together. I don’t care.”  
Zayn was stunned. Louis was stunned. Neither could believe the words that had just left his mouth. Louis didn’t really mean it, Zayn was just pushing him and he didn’t want to think about it.  
Zayn shook his head before he turned around to get the ball without saying anything, leaving Louis to think about what he just said.  
When he came back, he held the ball under his arm as Louis walked towards him.  
“Please tell me you didn’t mean that.” Zayn shook his head at him.  
“I-I didn’t mean it like that,” Louis began.   
“I just think,” Zayn interrupted him. “That you should be a little more sensitive towards his feeling in this.”  
Louis let out an exasperated breath. “What I meant was that I can’t- I can’t go and make him feel better because I’m the issue. I’m the one that made him like this in the first place so I can’t go to him. I can’t talk to him about it, Zayn, because I’m not- I’m not allowed to care about him anymore.”   
“I know, Louis.” Zayn answered, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But just, don’t make him feel even more shit by making him think that you don’t care. You can show him you’re hurting too, it’ll make him feel better.”  
“What?” Louis asked, getting slightly pissed off that Zayn was saying he didn’t care.  
“You can show you’re feelings-”  
“Are you implying that I feel nothing at all?” Louis nearly shouted. “I’m the one who had to break his heart and watch it shatter into a million pieces in front of me. I’m the one who watched him cry, who heard him beg for me to stay and I’m the one who had to turn my back on him as he begged for me to turn around and stay. I, am the one who had to leave that apartment, Zayn. I am the one who had to leave him.”  
“Louis, calm down,” Zayn said in a level voice, seeing that he was getting worked up. “Here, let’s kick the ball. It’ll calm you down.”  
He stepped back and put the ball down, kicking it gently to Louis.  
“There,” He said as Louis kicked it back. “Better?”  
Louis nodded as they kicked it around for a little while longer. It did calm him down a bit. He had been bottling his emotions up all weekend and it had gotten dangerously close to exploding.  
“You ready to talk again?” Zayn asked after a while.  
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Louis replied, keeping his eyes on the ball as it went between the two.  
“Yes you do.” Zayn replied, making a small but brief smile appear on Louis face. Zayn knew his friend well.  
“Whatever,” Louis rolled his eyes. “It’s a sad thing, I get it. But he’ll get over it, he’ll be fine. I’m not his entire world. This one relationship wasn’t the only one he’s ever going to have. He’ll find someone else and be happy again.”  
“And you?” Zayn asked “Contrary to what you say, I know he meant more to you than you’re letting on.”  
“Sure,” Louis replied. “I’ll be happy too, we’re just not going to be happy together, that ship has sailed.”  
Zayn let out a breath, knowing Louis was right. It was just too much of a mess to fix and there was no way that either of them had the effort to try.  
“Zayn!”  
The black haired boy turned around at the sound of his name to see his good old friend walking towards him.  
“Hey!” He exclaimed, immediately dropping the game to go and greet him. “So you got here okay, I see. How are you? How are you liking campus?”  
Zayn’s friend came closer as Louis collected the ball and watched the too catch up.  
“Yeah,” The brown haired stranger replied with a nod. “I mostly spent the weekend settling into the dorm so I haven’t seen much, but it seems nice. The people here are really nice, yeah.”  
“Good!” Zayn replied. “Yeah well, we’ll all hang out tonight so you can meet the rest of the group.”  
“Oh yeah, cool.”  
“You been to class yet?”  
“Yeah, this morning. The professor’s nice, and the people are great. Everyone’s so nice here!”  
“Yeah,” Zayn nodded. “You’ll like it here.”  
Louis watched as the two of them exchanged hellos and hugs, catching up like old mates as he covered up his emotions. He didn’t want the new kid to see him break down before he even learnt his name. Plus, he thought he was really attractive and he didn’t want to cry in front of someone who he thought was that beautiful.  
“Oi!” Louis interrupted the two, jogging over with the ball under his arm, a fake smile plastered across his face. “Zayn, new kid, we gonna play or stand around like a mother’s group?”  
He was trying to play it cool as he attempted to impress the new guy with his happy-go-lucky attitude.   
The new guy grinned back, his eyes glued to Louis’ angelic face as his happy demeanor clearly worked, the new kid seemingly wrapped around his finger.  
“Louis, this is my old friend from high school back in Bradford-”  
“Great,” Louis stopped him with a grin. “Let’s play, yeah?”  
The brown haired guy nodded back, matching his grin as he stepped back to play.  
“You sure?” Zayn asked, silently making sure Louis was okay after the conversation they’d just had.  
“Yeah yeah.” Louis waved him off as he smiled back at the handsome stranger.   
Before he could reply, Louis laughed and took a few steps back and dropped the ball to his feet.  
Zayn gave him a questioning look, knowing Louis wasn’t really okay. He didn’t want his friend to bottle up all his feelings again because it wasn’t healthy. And when it burst, it wasn’t going to be a pretty sight and Zayn knew that he was going to have to be the one to deal with Louis once he exploded.  
Louis simply kept the smile on his face so Zayn let it go, his friend being none the wiser as Louis kicked the ball, beginning the triangle.  
It was chilly that morning, but by the afternoon, it was nice and sunny, so the boys had taken off their jumpers to make goals as their game progressed into a bigger game of Louis versus the other two, which Louis protested wasn’t fair, but the game went ahead anyway.  
Louis couldn’t help himself, but when the guy took his shirt off, he swooned. He was hot. H O T hot. His body was a perfect golden tan with a 6 pack and arm muscles that could lift just about anything.  
They laughed and chatted away, getting to know each other better until later in the afternoon when they decided to go home before their group night later that night.  
“Well, that was fun!” Louis exclaimed as they walked together out of the park.  
“Yeah,” Zayn agreed. “Well, I should go. I have a paper to write before we go out tonight.”   
“Yeah, I want to unpack a few more boxes.” His friend nodded.  
“Okay,” Louis answered. “I’ll see you guys later.”  
As he went to turn away, he realized that the new kid was turning the same way as he was.  
“I’m this way too.” The brown haired boy smiled as Zayn turned away and headed for home.  
The two walked in silence for a little while until Louis realized that he never learnt his name.  
“Well, it was nice to meet you.” Louis smiled as they walked.  
“Yeah, you too.” The guy replied with a grin just before he stopped. “I’m, uh, I live that way.”  
He pointed down a road that Louis wasn’t heading down, so they stopped at the corner and said their goodbyes.  
“Hey,” Louis called out. “I never caught your name.”  
“Oh right,” He laughed with an adorable blush.  
“My name’s Liam.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Do I look okay?” Harry asked as he turned around in the mirror, trying to see himself from all angles while Niall just laid on his back in the middle of Harry’s bed, laughing as his friend tried to decide what to wear.  
“Yes Harry.” He laughed, staring up at the ceiling.  
They were trying to get ready for their outing that night, but Harry couldn’t seem to decide which clothes to wear. He didn’t want to admit it, but he wanted to look good for Louis. He wanted to show him what he was missing out on.  
“You didn’t even look.” Harry complained, turning around to see him paying absolutely no attention. “Please help me, this is important!”  
Niall just laughed continued scrolling through his phone, nearly dropping it on his face.  
“Ni! Please?” Harry asked again, pouting for extra effect.  
“I don’t see why it’s important.” He commented, still on his phone as he lay across the bed.  
“It is.” Harry protested.  
Niall huffed and sat up on his elbows as he gave him a questioning look. “For you look hot for you ex?”  
Harry’s shoulders dropped along with his face as Niall’s comment hit him hard. That was, in fact, what he was doing, but he didn’t think others would notice. He didn’t want to seem pathetic, though that was now exactly what he felt like.  
“Please, don’t call him that.” Harry whispered under his breath as he turned back around to the mirror.  
Luckily Niall didn’t hear or Harry knew he would have been chastised over the comment. He knew they were no longer together and that technically, yeah, they were exes, but that didn’t stop him from holding out hope that they could get back together.  
“What, ‘ex’?” Niall asked, apparently he had heard the comment. “Dude, that’s what you are. I know you’re sad, but when you accept that, you’ll feel better.”  
Harry didn’t reply, instead he just studied his outfit in the mirror as he bit his lip. He knew Niall was right, but he didn’t want to admit it.  
“Does this go?” Harry asked, holding his arms out.  
“I’m serious, Harry.” Niall tilted his head to the side.  
“So am I, Niall.” He retorted. “Does this go?”  
He turned around to face him, his eyes slightly glossy as he felt tears forming.  
Niall sighed as he finally looked him up and down. “Yes, you look great.”  
Harry gave him a small smile as he ran a hand through his unruly hair, pushing it back off his face before smoothing out his t-shirt.  
“I was serious, though.” Niall commented. “The sooner you get over him, the better.”  
He sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed as Harry sat down on the end, so they were next to each other.  
“I am getting over him,” Harry protested as he turned to face him.   
“Harry-”  
“I met someone today.” Harry cut him off, with a confident smile. “Yeah, he was really nice and very hot, you’d be proud.”  
Niall gasped as he grinned and patted his back.   
“Oh my gosh!” He squealed. “Really?”  
Harry smiled at his friend’s ridiculous antics and nodded.   
“I am proud,” He replied happily. “I’m glad you’re moving on.”  
Harry stood up again, trying to hide his disappointment. He didn’t want to move on, not yet. Louis was the love of his life and it was hard for him to move on just like that.  
“What’s his name?” Niall exclaimed excitedly. “What does he look like? What-”  
“Ni!” Harry laughed. “Chill out, anyone would think that you’d met him, not me.”  
He was happy to have met Liam, he was really nice and Harry liked him, but no one could fill the Louis-shaped hole in his heart that easily.  
“Well?” He pressed, still grinning manically.  
“His name is Liam.” Harry answered. “And he’s tall, brown hair, lovely smile. He was really nice and easy to get on with.”  
“Aw!” Niall cooed. “That’s adorable!”  
“Shut up.” Harry laughed, shoving Niall’s shoulder as he stood up. He went into the wardrobe to pull out some aftershave to put on.  
“What’s that?” Niall asked, standing up as well so they could leave as he looked over his shoulder.  
“Aftershave,” Harry replied. “Louis’ favorite.” He added under his breath making Niall give him a shove.  
He shook his head as he left the room, Harry following behind with a shy smile. He hoped Louis would appreciate it.  
“You’re an idiot.” Niall muttered making Harry chuckle a little.   
“Love you too.” He answered as they left the apartment.  
.  
Meanwhile, Liam and Zayn were sitting at Zayn’s place, catching up as they waited for the others to arrive.  
They were sitting on the couch, beers in hand as they spoke about home.  
“So how’ve you been?” Liam asked. “It’s been ages man!”  
“Yeah,” Zayn replied with a laugh. “I guess it has. Um, yeah I’ve been good. Uni’s great.”  
“This place seems really cool.” Liam commented.  
“Hello?” Louis’ voice sang through the apartment, announcing his arrival.   
“Beer’s in the fridge.” Zayn replied, shouting through the small apartment. “We’re in the lounge.”  
“Good man.” Louis answered, going into the kitchen to grab a drink before joining the others.  
“How are we?” He asked as he sat down next to Zayn, cracking open the beer and taking a swig.  
“Yeah, good.” Liam replied with a smile, which Louis returned warmly. Zayn looked between them awkwardly, thanking the gods above that Niall and Harry had arrived so he had reason to leave the two. It was getting weirdly flirty and he didn’t want to third wheel.  
So he stood up and left the room to answer the knock at the door.  
“So, um, how are you?” Liam asked as Louis scooted closer to him on the couch.  
“Uh, good, yeah, I’m well.” Louis answered with a nervous nod.  
“Good,” Liam replied, their voices becoming lower as their conversation got quieter and more intimate.  
Louis felt himself looking down to his lips, rather than at his face as he thought about how pink and plump they were. His heart was racing as the two got closer and closer, ogling over each other as they slowly but surely leant in... until they were interrupted.  
“Liam?”  
The new kid’s head snapped up at the sound of his name from the doorway. It was Harry grinning at him and he was pleasantly surprised.  
“Oh my God, Hi!” Harry continued with a spring in his step, walking towards Liam who stood up and greeted him with a hug, leaving Louis with a cold space where the other boy used to be.  
Harry, however, just stood there and grinned, still amazed at the fact that Liam was there. He was also perfectly aware of Louis sitting on the couch, so he made a point to ignore him as he spoke to Liam. After all, he thought to himself that if it were the other way around, Louis would have done the same to him.  
“Harry!” Liam exclaimed, his face lighting up at the sight of his new friend. “Wow, um, how are you?” He was exasperated, no words coming to mind as he tried to process the situation.  
“Good, I’m good.” Harry replied with a giggle. “What are you doing here?”  
“I’m here with Zayn. We’re old mates,” Liam explained. “Since I’m new here, he was going to introduce me to his friends.”  
“Oh!” Harry replied. “You’re the friend he was talking about? Oh that’s cool! What a small world.” He laughed, touching his arm flirtatiously as Louis’ blood boiled from the couch.  
Louis knew he had broken up with Harry and that he wasn’t admitting he was jealous or anything, but seeing him with another guy made him feel weird, almost angry.  
“You know each other?” Louis piped up, an eye brow raised as he watched the two other move over to the couch and sit down next to him, Liam between Harry and Louis, unwittingly creating a much needed barrier.  
“Yeah,” Harry replied, not breaking eye contact with Liam as they faced each other. “We’re in history together.”  
Louis rolled his eyes while Harry and Liam went back to chatting. He crossed his arms over his chest and grimaced at their closeness.  
“So you’re mates with Zayn from Bradford?” Harry asked.  
“Yeah!” Liam replied. “We went to high school together. Good friends, good friends.”  
“Cool,” Harry replied with a grin.  
“So you’re feeling better then?” Liam asked, concerned. “I know you were a little down this morning about your ex.”  
The moment Liam said that word, Harry’s smile dropped. His eyes widened in horror as he leant back and started shaking his head, Louis eyes doing the same.  
Harry made a cutting motion across his neck, trying to make Liam stop.  
“What-” He went to ask but he was interrupted.  
“I’m going to talk to Ni.” Louis announced, cutting him off as he got up and walked past the other two boys with a scowl.  
Liam nodded happily, but when the ex couple’s eyes met, it was an entirely different situation.  
“Harry.” He said with no emotion, walking past with not so much as even a hint of a smile.  
“Louis.” Harry did the same as Louis left the room with a cold glare.  
Liam noticed as he looked between the two confusedly.   
“Woah,” He commented. “That was cold. What-” He stopped as his face dropped, realization flooding hid expression. “Wait.” He put his hand over his mouth. “Oh shit.”  
Harry just looked at him, worrying about what he was going to say. He wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at, but Liam’s wide eyes of realization made him anxious. He didn’t want anything to mess up the new friendship they were forging and this newfound information about him and Louis could cause issues. Especially, considering the compromising position Harry and found them in earlier.  
“You- and the look- that was- and he-” He stammered, pointing between a nervous Harry and the doorway Louis had disappeared through. “Louis’ your ex?”  
“Um,” Harry looked at the ground, biting his bottom lip as he nodded. “You know him?”  
“Yeah, I met him this afternoon.” He replied, his face still hanging open in shock. “We played football together.” He shook his head. “You showed me the picture in class and I never even put the pieces together. I can’t believe I didn’t realize.”  
“It’s okay,” Harry answered, putting a hand on his leg. “You weren’t expected to…”  
“But I was thinking about you all day, you know.” Liam admitted, turning to face him better on the couch.  
Harry’s worried look melted away as the kind comment made him smile.   
“I was worried about you,” Liam continued. “You seemed so upset.” Liam broke off as he reached up to stroke Harry’s blushing cheek.  
“Really?” He breathed as they moved closer, Louis being pushed so far from his mind he could barely remember his name.  
“Yeah,” Liam whispered as he leant in with a smile.  
Harry blushed harder and looked down, only looking up when he felt Liam place a sweet kiss on his cheek.  
He looked up into hopeful eyes that were sparkling with nerves and happiness. Harry smiled, trying to silently reassure him as they leant their foreheads together.  
“C’mon,” Liam whispered, leaning back as he stood up and held a hand out to help Harry up. “Let’s go see the others. I want to meet your friends.”  
Harry nodded. “Yeah, okay. Though Niall’s pretty loud, just warning you.” He added with a laugh.  
They stood hand in hand, holding on for longer than what is considered platonic before slowly letting go and heading into the kitchen to find the others.  
“Hey!” Niall exclaimed as they walked in. “There you are!”  
Harry just shook his head as he moved to go stand next to the blonde, ignoring Louis’ scowl completely. If wanted to act childish about it, it was his problem, Harry thought, he was the one who broke if off, after all.  
“I’m Niall.” Niall leant forward to shake Liam’s hand. “Great to meet you.”  
“Liam,” Liam replied with a smile. “And me too.”  
“Great,” Niall clapped his hands together, turning to face Harry with a massive grin. He had put two and two together, realizing that this was the same Liam that Harry had been talking about earlier.  
“So you’ve met Harry then, hm?” He asked, still smiling knowingly.  
“Uh, yeah.” Liam answered him, still looking at Harry with admiring eyes.  
“Well, shall we go then? The others’ll be waiting for us.” Niall announced.  
Harry snuck a glance at Liam who had also snuck a glance at him. They smiled, blushed and looked away like school girls while the others decided they should go.  
Liam was excited to meet some new people, though he knew none of them would be as special as Harry.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry sighed as he pushed open the doors to the building is history class was held. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep the previous night after the group of friends had hung out. The whole time he was talking to Liam, Louis kept looking at him funny and he felt guilty. He liked Liam, but he was still head over heels in love with Louis. No matter what he did to try and move on, it still felt wrong for him to be talking to other guys.  
Nonetheless he was trying, because that was what Louis was doing. He was acting like it was fine, so Harry would too.  
He ran a hand through his hair nervously and noted how long it was getting. He thought about getting it cut, but remembered that Louis liked it longer, then mentally slapped himself for even thinking of Louis’ opinion in the first place, it shouldn’t matter.  
He checked the time on his phone, which might still have him and Louis as the background, and headed inside the lecture theatre.   
He spotted Liam sitting alone again in the back row and felt a smile creep onto his face at the sight. The butterflies in is stomach erupted and he felt giddy with joy, even if it was overshadowed with a twinge of self-reproach.  
But he wanted to ignore it the best he could, so he walked up and sat next to him, deciding to join him, just like the other day.  
“Hey,” Liam looked up from his phone as he saw Harry sitting down. He put it in his pocket and smiled up at the boy. “What’s up?”  
“Hey,” Harry replied with a grin, trying to suppress the wave of guilt in his stomach. “Not much really, you?”  
“Yeah yeah,” Liam replied. “Pretty much the usual, study and class.”  
“Tell me about it.” Harry sarcastically answered before the two boys laughed together.  
“Last night was fun,” Liam pointed out. “The guys are great!”  
“Yeah,” Harry agreed ”They’re great friends, even if Niall is obnoxious when he’s drunk.”  
Liam laughed, his eyes sparkling as they stared at each other, totally entranced.  
“But it was a lot of fun,” Liam continued. “They’re all really nice. And I think they like me?” He asked with a nervous smile.  
“Yes, they like you.” Harry answered with a grin. “We all like you.”  
Liam nodded to himself as he bit his lip.  
“So, uh,” He began nervously and Harry couldn’t help but feel anxious about what he was going to ask. “About Louis…”  
Harry felt his stomach drop, the prospect nausea flooding his mind at the mention of his name. He had no idea what Liam was going to ask, but it couldn’t be good.  
“Um,” He cleared his throat. “Yeah?”  
“Uh, I was just wondering, like.” Liam paused as he thought of the right way to word it. “Never mind.”  
“No no,” Harry replied, trying to smile through it. “You can ask.”  
“But I can see you’re upset.” Liam answered with a sad smile as he caressed his cheek. “I don’t want to make you upset.”  
“No, I’m okay. You can ask.” Harry reassured him with a smile, even though his eyes were getting wet. “I don’t mind.”  
Liam nodded, dropping his hand. “Well, last night you guys seemed very, um, sorta, cold? Towards each other? And I guess, I don’t know… You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I was just thinking about why you broke up?”  
Harry gulped and looked back at him with wide, worried eyes. He knew that he should probably tell him, there was not really any harm in it, but he was worried about scaring him off by telling him about the proposal. Then again, with the way Harry was feeling towards the brown-eyed boy, he knew he would end up telling him at some point.  
He sniffled a little and willed the tears away, catching Liam’s attention.  
“Oh no,” Liam put his hand on Harry’s leg. “You don’t have to say, but, I mean I guess I was just wondering, was it bad?”  
“Uh,” Harry drawled, looking down. “It was, messy, I guess.” He admitted. “It didn’t really end very well and yeah, but we’re both dealing with it and moving on. It’ll be fine. But uh…”  
“I’m sorry, I pried.” Liam answered. “I shouldn’t have asked, I-”  
“No, its okay.” Harry reassured him. “I-I want to tell you.”  
“Okay,” Liam whispered, patiently waiting as he saw the raw emotion in Harry’s face. He understood that it was hard for Harry to talk about and wasn’t really something that he wanted to relive, so he kept quiet and waited.  
“I-”  
“Good morning, class!” The professor entered the room with a grin, interrupting the conversation.  
Harry’s head snapped up and he immediately wiped his glassy eyes before the tears fell. He looked at Liam apologetically as the other boy gave his leg a squeeze in understanding as they turned their attention back to the class.  
“Um, we can talk after class if you like?” Harry whispered. “There’s a café…”  
Liam nodded with a smile, trying to make Harry feel more comfortable as it was obvious that he was tense. He have his leg one last squeeze before turning his attention to the class.  
As the lecture dragged on, both boys became lost in thought.  
Liam wondered if he’d crossed the line with Harry by asking about Louis, but then again, he liked the green-eyed boy so he wanted to know. He just hoped that Harry would be honest with him and maybe talking about it would help him move on. Because Liam would really like it if Harry could move on.  
Harry, on the other hand, was thinking about how to put it. He wanted to tell Liam, he just had to think of the right way to say it without freaking him out like I did Louis.  
“Alright, class dismissed!” The professor announced. “And remember those papers are due Monday.”  
Harry snapped out of his daze and blinked a few times. He closed his notebook, his eyes lingering on the picture of Louis for a few seconds before he put it away.  
Liam noticed and couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. It had become very obvious to him that Harry really wasn’t over Louis, which just made him more and more curious about their break-up.  
“Okay, so, uh, should we go then?” Harry suggested as he slung his bag over his shoulder.  
“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “But only if you want to, you don’t have to tell m if you don’t want to.”  
“You know that’s like, the third time you’ve said that.” Harry laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, I’m going to tell you. C’mon.”  
Liam blushed a little, making Harry’s heart flutter before they stood up and left the lecture theatre.  
.  
Once they arrived at the café, they went and sat on the couches in the corner. The shop was relatively empty as it was mid afternoon, which made Harry feel a little better. He didn’t need half the campus to see him if he broke down partway through the story.  
“Do you want something?” Harry asked as they sat. “My shout.”  
“Sure,” Liam answered. “Whatever your having is fine.”  
“Okay,” Harry nodded. “I’ll be back.”   
He walked up to the counter and ordered a thoughtful frown on his face the whole time.  
As he waited for them to be made, he ran through the story in his head, preparing himself to relive it.  
When they were done, he took the two coffees back to the table and took a deep breath.  
“Okay,” He breathed. “Here goes.”  
.  
Harry was excited to see his boyfriend that Friday night. He loved him so much and always enjoyed spending time with him, especially when it was just the two of them.  
He smiled as he stood in the doorway of his kitchen, watching Louis frantically write his paper on the couch. Harry couldn’t help but feel his heart swell at the sight of him in his glasses and Harry’s oversized jumper hanging down over his knees.  
“Look at you, working hard.” He cooed as he walked over behind the couch and wrapped his arms around his neck fro behind. “Do you want a drink or something?”  
“Hmm.” Louis hummed, turning his head slightly to kiss him arm, but not taking his eyes off his notes. “Sure, babe.”  
“Mkay.” Harry kissed Louis’ temple before letting him go and walking back into the kitchen do grab some drinks. He opened the cupboard and saw some popcorn, so he decided to make that too.  
Harry took the two glasses of coke into the lounge, put them on the coffee table before going back for the popcorn.  
“Here we are.” Harry said as he sat down on the couch beside him, putting the bowl down on the coffee table as he waited for his boyfriend to finish up his work.  
“M’sorry.” Louis muttered, not looking up as he continued to write, occasionally stopping to scan his perfectly highlighted notes. Harry put his arm along the back of the couch, behind Louis’ shoulders.  
“It’s okay.” Harry breathed out with a smile, rubbing his arm affectionately. “I don’t mind waiting.”  
Louis still didn’t look up as he got to the end of the page and finally finished the essay with a grin.  
“There,” he announced, holding it up and looking at Harry. “That should do. After all, what more can I write about Charlotte Bronte?”  
He shook his head and started to pack away his stuff, putting it in the folder and then putting that on the floor.  
“Good, boo.” Harry complimented him, kissing him on the head before standing up and walking over to the DVD player. He scanned the racks of his films before finding the one he was after.  
“What are we watching?” Louis asked, settling back into the couch as he hugged a cushion to his chest and removed his glasses. “Better not be another one of your weird cartoons.” He added with a grin as Harry turned around with a look of feigned shock.  
“Weird cartoons?” He asked. “My films are great, thanks.” He added with a laugh.  
“Sure, babe.” Louis rolled his eyes with a giggle as Harry put the disk in, turned around and pressed play.  
He returned to the couch and put his arms out so Louis could cuddle into his side as the movie started.  
“You didn’t answer my question.” Louis pointed out, poking Harry’s cheek playfully.  
“The Road to El Dorado.” Harry replied. “It’s funny, okay?” He justified with a laugh.  
“Okay,” Louis rolled his eyes and leant his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder as the film began. “I like this view better anyway.” He added as he looked up into Harry’s eyes.  
He leaned up and connected their lips for a quick kiss, leaving Harry breathless, before putting his head on his shoulder.  
Harry smiled and gave Louis’ side a squeeze as he turned his attention back to the movie.   
After a while, he looked down at Louis and took a deep breath. He was undeniably in love with the boy he was cuddling and more than anything, he knew that there would never be anyone else for him. Louis was his one and only, forever.  
“Marry me,” He whispered, unable to stop himself before the words came tumbling out of his mouth. “I love you, Louis.”  
He wasn’t planning on asking him, it just happened. But he didn’t regret it, he knew that he meant it.  
Louis lifted his head off Harry’ shoulder in a matter of milliseconds and looked at him in shock. He picked up the remote and paused the film as fast as he could before scrambling back on the couch, away from him.  
“H-Harry, what?” he stuttered, beginning to freak out.  
Harry, however, didn’t pick up on his panic attack, he just continued, the only thing filling his head was his blinding love for the feathery-haired boy as he looked at him with a face full of hope and happiness.  
“Come here, silly.” He shook his head and held his hand out but Louis stood up in an attempt to get further away, looking down at Harry confusedly.  
“Louis, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me, please?” Harry asked again, standing up also and grasping their hands together. He stepped forward and attempted to kiss him, but Louis stumbled backwards and fell over the coffee table.  
“Lou!” Harry exclaimed, rushing to his side. “Are you okay?”  
Louis was lying there, rubbing his back as he attempted to stand, so Harry leant down to help him.   
“Y-Yeah, I-” Louis began, pushing Harry away as he wanted to stand up by himself. “Harry what are you talking about.”  
That was the first time he had registered that Louis wasn’t as happy as he had expected him to be, but Harry just blushed and took one of his hands before kneeling down in front him, a smile on his face.  
“Louis Tomlinson,” Harry began as Louis started shaking his head. “I love you to the moon and back, and even though it hasn’t been long-”  
“Harry, we’ve been dating for 5 months.” Louis stated.  
“The best 5 months of my life,” Harry replied truthfully. “I know it’s not long, but when you’re in love and you know…” He took a deep breath. “Louis, will you marry me?”  
He watched with wide eyes as Louis’ filled with tears, his mouth wobbling with a frown.  
“Harry, I’m 19 years old. I’m in my second year of university. I can’t get married.” Louis answered, his voice getting faster and higher as he went on. He was rambing and working himself up as he tried to make Harry see reason, he wasn’t ready.  
“Don’t you love me?” Harry asked, his face dropping at the rejection. He honestly thought that Louis felt the same way and would be just as ecstatic. All of a sudden, he felt nervous.  
Louis frowned, pulling his hand out of Harry’s and stepping further backwards. “I’m 19, you’re only 20 for Godsakes. We can’t get married, we hardly even know each other and it’s only been 5 months, Harry. I can’t- We can’t- I just…. I don’t- know.”  
Louis’ panic really started to sink in as Harry stood up, at a loss for words.  
“Louis…” Harry began, moving towards him with outstretched arms, but Louis batted them away. “Louis, I-I love you.”  
“Stop saying that!” Louis snapped, making Harry stop and freeze. “Please, just s-stop.”  
He sat down and put his head in his hands as he took a deep breath.  
“I-I” Harry stuttered, not knowing what to do.   
“Harry, we can’t keep doing this.” He whispered as Harry sat down next to him. “I love you too, you I know I do, but this is getting too much.”  
“What?” Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowing as his eyes became glassy. He shuffled closer so their legs were touching.   
“You smother me,” Louis explained, moving away so there was a gap again. “This is just another example of that.”  
“I-I,” Harry reached out for him but Louis recoiled. “I can change,” he said desperately. “I’ll stop, I can stop being like that.”  
“No, you can’t” Louis replied. “It’s who you are, its just they way that you are.”   
Harry shook his head frantically, taking Louis hands in his. “I can.” He said as he sniffled and wiped his face, tears beginning to stream.  
“Harry,” Louis answered, a pained look coming across his face. “You constantly want to be around me, you look lost when I’m not there, you never hang out with the guys any more because you want it to be just us all the time. I still want to have a life. I like hanging out with my friends.”  
Harry gulped and gave Louis’ hands a squeeze. “Because I love you, Louis. I want to be with you, because I’m in love with you.”  
Louis pulled his hands away and stood up. “I know you do,” He answered. “And being with you has been great, but I think it’s come to an end. I need some alone time.”  
“L-Like a... break?” Harry asked breathlessly.   
Louis shook his head and took another step back. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He couldn’t say anything as he watched Harry’s heart breaking before his eyes.   
Harry started to sob as he stood up and came closer to him, but Louis put a hand on his chest, pushing him away.  
“No,” Louis answered. “Like we should, call it quits.”  
“B-But,” Harry sobbed, trying desperately to cling onto him. “P-Please, no. I can change. I-I’ll show y-you. I c-can change.”  
Louis reached up and wiped a few tears off Harry’s cheek as he shook his head sadly.  
“I think this is it, Harry.” Louis said, leaning down to pick up his books as he turned and headed towards the door. “Goodbye.”  
Harry shook his head and more tears fell. “No please, don’t g-go. S-Stay with me, please. L-Louis, I need y-you.”  
“Harry, y-you’re going to be fine.” He tried to console without being too affectionate.   
“No,” Harry begged. “I w-won’t be. Louis, please. P-Please stay. I’ll d-do anything. Please, j-just don’t go!” He burst out crying again and it took everything in Louis not to turn around.  
He gulped, but continued walking down the corridor. Harry followed him before dropping his knees when Louis got to the door.  
“Louis, please!” He nearly shouted through his crying.   
Louis stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “Harry, stop.” Louis sighed. “It’s over.”  
Harry put his head in his hands as a new wave of tears overcame him. The last thing he heard was the door closing and when he looked up, he realized he was in an empty apartment, deprived of the person he loved most in the world.


	8. Chapter 8

“Uh, yeah,” Harry cleared his throat when he was done telling the story. “That’s it.”  
It was hard, but he managed not to cry. He got pretty close, but he didn’t, and he was proud of himself for it.  
“Oh Harry,” Liam cooed, putting his drink down on the table. “C’mere.”  
He opened his arms for Harry to hug him, so Harry obliged and he rested his chin on the other boy’s shoulder.  
It was nice, Harry thought. It felt warm and safe, almost like Louis’. Almost, but not quite.  
“That was…” Liam trailed off as he pulled back with a heartbroken expression.  
“Yeah,” Harry agreed with a humorless laugh.  
“So, uh, he broke up with you because you were too clingy?” Liam asked, curious, but not wanting to push Harry into saying anything he didn’t want to say.  
“Yeah,” Harry nodded, looking down before picking up his drink and taking a sip as Liam looked at him with soft eyes.  
“Well, um, for the record…” Liam said nervously as he blushed lightly and looked away to pick up his coffee as well. “Um, I like clingy, romantic guys.” He admitted.  
Harry’s eyes snapped up to look at him as he sat there, slightly pink in the face, after his admission. He was shocked that Liam had said something so forward, but nonetheless, a smile crept onto his face.  
He was flattered and he felt himself even more drawn towards the gorgeous brown-haired boy who just seemed to say all the right things at all the right times.  
He bit his lip to try and suppress it, but he couldn’t. He looked at Liam as he looked back up, their eyes meeting quickly before Harry gulped.  
“Uh, thanks, I think.” He replied with a light laugh, which Liam joined in on.  
“But, uh, yeah.” Liam continued, trying to move pass the comment. “I, uh, thanks, for telling me, I guess. I mean, um, yeah.”  
Harry shook his head as Liam became more and more flustered, stumbling over his words.  
“Its okay,” Harry answered, unable to feel sad about the story anymore because the goofy boy sitting in front of him was just so damn adorable. “It felt good, to get it off my chest.”  
“Good,” Liam answered, nonchalantly putting his hand on Harry’s thigh as their eyes met.  
They were silent for a minute as they just started, until Liam cleared his throat and leant back.  
“Should we, um, do you want to start that assignment thing?” He asked, looking at the table rather than at Harry, who hadn’t moved.  
“Sure,” He said eventually, snapping out of his daze.  
They both pulled their notebook’s out, Harry getting his laptop out too so they could begin comparing notes.  
He opened the computer to the screensaver of him and Louis. He was grinning like a mad-man as Louis pressed his lips to Harry’s cheek.  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liam’s face drop a little as he saw the picture. Harry let out a breath, trying not to make it seem like it affected him, but seeing those memories really got him down.  
“I should- uh, really change that.” He said, trying to sound as lighthearted as possible as he pulled up an internet page to cover it up.  
He wanted it to sound casual, like it didn’t mean anything, but of course, it came out sounding like a whiny little girl who didn’t want to give up her most precious Barbie.  
Liam nodded to himself, as he buried his head in his notes and began to write his essay.   
Harry sighed and did the same, hoping that Liam wasn’t too upset. It seemed that everywhere Liam looked, there was a picture of him and Louis and Harry was getting nervous that Liam would start to think of him as the annoying, possessive boyfriend who clearly couldn’t get over his ex.  
.  
They worked for an hour or so until Harry couldn’t take it anymore.  
“Ugh.” He sighed, leaning back into the couch as he ran his hands over his face. “This is torture.”  
Liam smiled fondly at him and joined in his laughter. “It’s alright, Harry.” He answered, playfully leaning into him. “We’re nearly done. Just finish that paragraph and you’re done.”  
Harry groaned, but sat up anyway and hunched over the small table to continue writing.  
“I hate history…” He muttered as he looked over the highlighted notes for more content to add to his paper.  
“No you don’t.” Liam laughed. “You just hate assignments.”  
“True.” Harry answered as he finished the last sentence with a full stop. “There, that should do. After all, what more can I write about King Henry IV?”   
“Good boo.” Liam chuckled at that just as he finished his, completely oblivious to Harry’s reaction.   
He had stiffened and his face had drained of colour as he started at Liam who just casually finished writing. Harry couldn’t blame him, he hadn’t known what he had just done, but nonetheless, he still felt uncomfortable at being called the same pet name that he had always called Louis.  
“Done, now we have a whole weekend free of History homework.” Liam announced, holding it up proudly, still oblivious.  
Harry gulped and tried to push the awkward feeling away, covering up with a smile and witty comment to ensure Liam didn’t suspect anything. He really didn’t want him to think that he was still pining after Louis.  
“This is why we’re friends.” Harry said jokingly, his face heating up and turning red. “Because you’re able to provide me with history-free weekends.”  
Liam smiled and nudged Harry’s shoulder as they began to pack up their stuff.  
“Um, hey.” Liam asked as they stood.  
“Yeah?” Harry replied, walking ahead out of the café with Liam in tow. He kept his head down, still recovering from Liam’s comment.  
Luckily once they were outside, Harry’s face had returned to normal, the blush gone. They stopped outside the door, both needing to go in different directions.  
“Uh, did you, like, want to go see a movie or something tonight?”  
Harry’s face softened, all thought of Louis leaving his mind at the prospect of being asked out on a date.  
“Are you asking me on a date?” Harry asked with a devious smile, making the other boy blush.  
“Um, yeah?” He replied, scratching the back of his neck. “But only if you’re up for it. I mean, I know you just broke up with your boyfriend and you’re probably not looking for anything right now but I just-”  
Harry cut off his rambling by putting his hand over his mouth with a laugh.   
“Sure, I’ll meet you at the theatre at 8?” He answered, grinning before taking his hand away.  
“Really? O-Okay,” Liam chirped, his face lighting up. “I’ll, um, see you then- there-, uh, then and there.” He stumbled.  
Only then did Harry notice how close they were standing. He gulped and took a step backwards, nodding before quickly kissing his cheek and walking away.  
He didn’t know why he did it. He liked to think it was because he liked Liam and was looking forward to their date, but somewhere in the back of his head, a voice was telling him it was just him trying to convince himself he was over Louis. Coincidentally, it was the same voice that kept telling him he never would.  
.  
At 7:30 Harry was standing naked in front of his wardrobe, not having a clue of what to wear.  
He had called Niall, but the blonde hadn’t picked up his phone, leaving Harry to fend for himself during his time of fashion crisis.  
Harry angrily dialed the number for the fifth time, pressing the phone to his ear as his eyes raked the piles of clothes for something suitable.  
“Whaddup?” Niall answered in a fake American accent after the third ring.  
“Don’t you ‘whaddup’ me.” Harry growled. “I am having an emergency and you can’t pick up your phone!?”  
“Woah, calm down there.” Niall laughed. “What’s the emergency?”   
“I have a date.” He stated, wedging the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans.  
“YOU WHAT!” Niall shouted. “This is great! OMG why didn’t you tell me.”  
“Fangirl at heart…” He muttered in reply. “Because I was only asked this afternoon. I don’t know what to wear.”  
“Okay,” Niall said matter of factly. “Do you have a pair of skinny jeans?”  
“Yeah,” Harry answered, laying them out on his bed before going back to the wardrobe to pull out a black shirt with white hearts. “What do I wear with it though?”  
“Nothing? I’m sure he’d like that.” Niall laughed to himself. “Wait, it is a guy your going out with, right? You’re not all of a sudden straight?”  
“No Niall.” Harry sighed, laying the shirt above the pants to see how it looked together. “Its Liam, from history. Zayn’s friend.”  
“Oh!” Niall gasped. “Him! I liked him! Good choice man.”  
Harry rolled his eyes and smiled. He liked Liam and he hoped it would work out. But then again, he didn’t want to lead him on and later find out that he was never over Louis, because that really wouldn’t be fair to Liam.  
He sighed and looked at the shirt and jeans combo again. “Do you think a shirt is too fancy?”  
“Well, where are you going?” Niall asked.  
“Movies.” Harry answered, running a hand through his still slightly wet hair before shaking it out.  
“Maybe,” Niall hummed. “Do you have just a plain t-shirt? You could wear that with a coat?” He suggested.  
“Yeah,” Harry answered thoughtfully as he rummaged through a drawer. “Black, or white?”  
“Um,” Niall thought. “Do you have your brown coat?  
“Uh,” Harry forgot the drawer in favour of finding the coat. “Yeah, got it.”  
“Wear that with a white t-shirt.” Niall stated.   
“Okay,” Harry answered, putting his phone on loudspeaker so he could get ready and still talk.  
“So when are you meeting him?” Niall asked as Harry pulled on his pants and then the shirt.  
“In a sec,” Harry answered, pulling on a pair of boots before grabbing his wallet and picking up the phone from the dresser. “I’ll talk to you later.”  
“Okay, have fun!” Niall sang, making Harry laugh.  
“Yes mum.” He answered before hanging up and pocketing the phone, grabbing his coat and walking out of his apartment.  
.  
Liam stood outside the movie theatre at 5 to 8, wanting to be early and ready, because maybe he got really super early in excitement.  
He paced up and down the side walk, his phone clutched in his hand as he stared at the time.  
Then, a new message appeared.  
From: Haz (and Liam might have added a green heart emoji, because it reminded himself of Harry’s eyes)  
Just leaving, I’ll be a couple minutes! X  
Liam stared at the X for a few seconds, wondering what it meant before he mentally slapped himself for being so ridiculous. It was just nice, a nice little kiss before a date, it didn’t signify love or anything! He scolded himself.  
He quickly replied before standing by the wall, trying to look casual when he arrived.  
He didn’t regret it, but he didn’t even mean to ask Harry out earlier that day. It just sort of slipped out because he didn’t want Harry to leave the coffee shop. He wanted to hang out longer.  
He wasn’t really sure what he was doing, either. He knew Harry didn’t want a relationship and no matter how Harry tried to hide it, Liam knew he wasn’t over Louis. He knew it was a deeper kind of love that someone doesn’t just get over.  
But he went ahead and started falling for the guy anyway. He honestly didn’t mean to because he knew it would never lead anywhere, but he couldn’t help it.  
So as he waited, he tried to tell himself to not get his hopes up about Harry. He knew this was a one-time thing and that they would only end up as friends.  
“Hey!”  
He turned around quickly to see Harry standing there with a huge grin on his face, which Liam returned.  
“Hey,” He replied, reaching out to hug him. “How are you?”  
“Great,” Harry answered. “You?”  
“Yeah, great.” Liam repeated. “Shall we go inside?”  
“Sure.” Harry nodded and they both went in and picked a movie before going into the theatre to sit and watch it.  
.  
Harry was laughing as he slung his arm through Liam’s, holding him close. They exited the cinemas after the movie had finished and were walking to where their cars were parked.  
Liam was laughing too at something from the film as the reminisced on the great night they’d had.  
“Well,” Liam sighed, wiping the tears from his eyes. “This is me.”  
They had stopped next to Liam’s car, Harry’s being parked only a few more down.  
Harry nodded and hummed as he detached himself from Liam’s side, stuffing his hands in his pockets.  
“Um,” Liam mumbled, looking at Harry’s lips, trying to concentrate on anything else. “Thanks, for tonight. I had a g-great time.” His eyes kept flickering between Harry’s eyes and lips.  
“Yeah,” Harry agreed, stepping closer as he nodded as he looked at the other boy. “It was a lot of fun.”  
He gulped as his eyes trailed down to Liam’s mouth. Slowly he leaned closer, his hands moving to Liam’s waist as Liam stood perfectly still.  
Ever so slowly, he leaned closer and closer until their noses touched and Liam finally put his hands on Harry’s shoulders.  
He could feel Harry’s hot breath on his and he tried to resist as long as possible, but he couldn’t take it. He leaned in quickly to connect their lips, kissing him slowly.  
Harry thought it was wonderful as he softly kissed him back, desperately trying to ignore the guilt in his stomach and the voice in his head.   
However, Liam knew something wasn’t right. He kissed him and Harry kissed back, but there was something wrong, he couldn’t quite place it. It was like Harry wasn’t really into it.  
Liam leaned back breathlessly, pushing against Harry’s chest.  
“N-No.” He stammered, as their foreheads rested together.  
Harry was smiling, but when he heard those words, it was wiped from his face.  
“O-Oh.” He said, leaning back to look at him properly with an embarrassed face.  
“No,” Liam tried to salvage the situation, not wanting Harry to feel bad. “I-I just, that’s not what I meant I- Do you like me?”  
“Yeah,” Harry nodded, rubbing his arm awkwardly.  
“I think you need to talk to Louis.” Liam sighed. “I like you too, but I think you need closure, or something.” He said sadly.  
And Harry knew he was right. If he could talk it out with Louis, then maybe he could finally let go and be free to like Liam without the crushing guilt.  
He nodded and stepped back, looking down for a second as they stood in silence.  
He let out a deep breath before leaving a feathery kiss on Liam’s cheek. “I’ll see you on Friday.” He told him with a smile before turning to walk to his car.  
He knew what he had to do.  
And on a Wednesday, in a café, I watched it begin again.


	9. Chapter 9

The following morning before class, Harry found himself outside Louis’ apartment building, gazing up at his window as he debated whether or not to go inside.  
He took a deep breath and stuffed his hands into his pockets, turning around to walk away.  
But for the fiftieth time, he turned back around and found himself staring back up at the building.  
He wanted to confront him, to get the closure he needed, but at the same time he was scared. He didn’t want it to be over and the conversation he was about to have would defiantly mean they were over.  
Harry looked up into the early morning sky before manning up and entering the building. He still knew they keycode, so he let himself in and walked up to Louis’ door.  
He raised his hand to knock, but hesitated. He bit his bottom lip and asked himself, “Do I really want to do this?”  
The answer straight away was no, but he knew that if there was anyway that he could finally get over him, he needed to do it.  
He squeezed his eyes closed, willing the tears away before knocking and taking a step back to wait for Louis to answer.  
“Just a minute!” Harry heard him sing, and he sadly smiled as he pictured what he would be doing.  
Harry knew Louis would probably just rolled out of bed and made a cup of tea. He would be pulling on his clothes in a hurry, hopping around as he tried to get into his jeans.  
Then he would have gone into the kitchen to put his half drunken cup of tea in the sink, because he didn’t have time to finish it, before coming to the door.  
Harry knew Louis inside out and as he stood there, remembering their old morning routine, he realized that.  
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…” He said under his breath before going to turn and walk away.  
But before he could even take a step, the door swung open and Harry was left standing there, stunned.  
“H-Harry?”  
His eyes were wide and he was frozen as he took in the sight. Louis was standing there, just as shocked as Harry, just as Harry had imagined.  
He had his hands on the top jeans, just pulling them up, as Harry had suspected and his hair was still all dishevelled, like Harry knew it would be. He hadn’t yet put a shirt on, which was very distracting for Harry, and his tattoos were on full display.  
He had opened the door with a grin, but when he saw who was standing there, it quickly faded.  
He closed the door a little to cover himself up and took a step back inside, putting more distance between them.  
“W-What are you doing here?” He stuttered, his eyes still wide in shock.  
“I, uh,” Harry mumbled. “I wanted t-to, t-to talk, to you.”  
“Um,” Louis drawled. “I-I guess. Come in.”  
Harry nodded to himself and went inside as Louis opened the door for him.  
“Lemme just…” He indicated to his chest, silently saying that he was going to grab a shirt and Harry smirked.  
“Nothing I haven’t seen before.” Harry said under his breath, unable to stop himself before it came out.  
Louis raised an eyebrow at him and Harry looked away blushing. He hadn’t expected Louis to hear.  
“Not now Harry.” Louis answered, unamused as he disappeared into the bedroom to get a t-shirt.  
Harry internally cursed himself for not being able to control himself around Louis, as he went over to the couch and sat down.  
When Louis returned, he sat down next to him on the couch, but made sure to keep his distance.  
“So, uh,” Louis began awkwardly, looking down as he played with his fingers. “What did you want to talk about?”  
“Louis,” Harry turned to face him with a pained expression. “I think you know.”  
Louis sighed and continued looking at the floor. “Yeah,” He breathed out, almost a whisper. “I think I do.”  
"Do you remember when we first met?" Harry asked, making Louis close his eyes sadly.  
"Yeah," He answered. "Orientation day last January. We were 18..."  
"Yeah," Harry agreed, a smile forming on his face at the memory. "Almost 2 years ago. I saw you and fell head over heels straight away, but you didn't even know my name. Niall made fun of me for a whole year because I didn't have the guts to talk to you."  
Louis stayed quiet, feeling too guilty to interrupt as Harry chuckled to himself.  
"I wanted to talk to you so bad, I thought you were so cool. I don't know, maybe it was just me, but I thought you could do no wrong. You were like a superhero to me." Harry continued.  
"Harry-"  
"I remember the first time we spoke, in the bathrooms that one time after class. I was so nervous. You were like, my first real crush, and I just remember getting tongue-tied around you all the time. All I wanted was for you to like me too, and it took so long for me to gather the courage to ask you out..."  
Harry laughed to himself again as Louis got more and more uncomfortable. He felt terrible already and didn't need all this in top of it..  
“What happened?” Harry blurted out, desperate for an answer. “What happened to us, Louis?!”  
His whole plan of coming solely to get closure so he would feel less guilty all the time, had completely left his mind. Once he had seen Louis again, all the feelings of love and need came flooding back.  
He bit his lip as he realized, the only thing filing his mind was the fact that he missed Louis so, so much and all he wanted was him to be his again.  
Louis frowned and reluctantly looked up, turning to face the other boy as he leant back.  
“Harry, you know the answer to that.” Louis answered.  
“No,” Harry shook his head. “No I don’t. I-I don't understand...”  
“Harry,” Louis sighed. “You... Y-You were too full on. It was all just too much.” He shrugged and started playing with the hem of his shirt.  
Harry cast his eyes down as he thought about that comment. All he wanted was to show Louis how much he loved him, it never occurred to him that it was suffocating.  
“I-I,” Harry stuttered. “I-I’m sorry.” He whispered, reaching out to touch Louis’ knee.  
The other boy recoiled from his touch and shook his head.  
“No.” He frowned. “No, Harry. I can’t do this again.”  
“B-But, Lou.” Harry’s bottom lip trembled as he shuffled closer to Louis on the couch, but Louis stood up and walked to the other side of the coffee table. “I-I.”  
So Harry stood up to, but Louis put his hand out and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
“Harry stop.” Louis sighed. “We’ve been down this road before. It’s not going to end well.”  
“I-I,” Harry didn’t know what to say, but he wanted to say something. “Please.” He whispered.  
In that moment, Liam couldn’t be further from his mind. The only thing he could think about was the fact that Harry wanted Louis back at all costs. He missed him so much.  
“Harry, I don’t understand what you’re asking me.” Louis shook his head with a frown, keeping his distance. “We’re broken up.”  
“Just give me one more chance.” Harry begged. “Please, I miss you so much, boo.”  
Louis just rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath “here we go again” as Harry tried to blink back his tears.  
“No.” Louis said forcefully, wiping a hand down his face. “Stop.”  
“But, what if-” Harry began, coming towards him with open arms as the first tear fell down his cheek.  
“Harry, the answer is no.” Louis replied, taking a step back. “Why do you think that’s going to change?”  
“I-I guess I just hoped-” Harry began, wiping his eye as he looked to the ground from where he was now standing in front of him.  
Harry heard Louis sigh as they stood in silence for a minute, keeping his eyes down on his shoes.  
“I don’t understand why…” Louis breathed, finally taking pity on the boy. He took a step towards him and gently put a hand on his cheek.  
Harry looked up from the ground to see Louis’ bright blue, but sad, eyes looking pitifully into his miserable green ones.  
Harry’s breath hitched as he noticed how close he was. It was the closest they had been since the break-up.  
So Harry couldn’t help himself when his hands found the smaller boy’s waist.  
Louis’ eyes widened when he felt it and he immediately tensed up, but he stayed there, even though his mind was screaming at him to run.  
Harry looked into his eyes with an intense gaze, his eyes flicking to his lips every now and then and before he knew what he was doing, he was leaning in to kiss him.  
Louis quickly brought a hand up to his chest and pushed him away as he leant back, desperately trying to avoid Harry’s lips.  
“No,” Louis whispered against his hot breath. “Harry, don’t. Don’t do this to yourself.”  
Harry suddenly let go and took 5 steps backwards, his hands pulling at his hair.   
“Sorry,” He mumbled. “Sorrysorrysorry. I’m so sorry- I didn’t mean-”  
“It’s okay,” Louis reassured him, staying where he was. “Don’t worry about it.”  
Harry nodded and touched his lips as he stared at the ground.  
“I don’t know-” He said, making Louis frown.  
The poor boy had no idea what to do with himself, and Louis could see it.  
“What did you hope to achieve in coming here?” Louis asked again, softly. He bit his lip, knowing it was going to sound harsh, but he needed to hear it. “You’re wasting your time.”  
Harry’s head snapped up, his eyes all of a sudden hard and angry. “Wasting my time?” He spat. “Is that what our relationship was to you? A waste of time?”  
“Of course not,” Louis answered, exasperated. “I just meant that there’s no going back to it. I can’t go down that road again.”  
“What, cause it was so bad the first time?” Harry scoffed, crossing his arms.  
“Harry-”  
“No, Louis.” Harry stopped him, a sudden surge of anger taking over him. “If your really want to know, I came here because I was with Liam last night.”  
He stood there looking smug as he watched Louis’ face change from frustrated to downright pissed off, and maybe a hint jealous. And maybe that’s what Harry wanted.  
“Liam!” Louis exclaimed. “You were with him? What the fuck? Where? Why?”  
Harry’s smirk grew as he watched his ex get all riled up. “Yes, Louis. Liam, I was with Liam last night. On a date.”  
Louis’ jaw dropped and his eyes grew just as cold and detached as Harry’s were, as he leant that Harry had already moved on.  
That was what he wanted, but he never anticipated feeling the way he did about it. It was wrong, Harry was his. But no, he couldn’t be. That wasn’t right. Louis knew he couldn’t think like that, not anymore.  
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop Louis growing jealousy, Harry’s smug smile, and all hell breaking loose in the middle of the apartment.


	10. Chapter 10

“Yes, Louis. Liam, I was with Liam last night. On a date.” Harry retorted, seeing the growing jealousy in Louis’ eyes. He knew he would get riled up over it, Harry knew Louis inside and out.  
He watched as his ex’s jaw dropped and smirked knowing that he was having the desired affect.  
There was no doubt that Harry was crazy in love with him and he would do anything to win him back, even if that required making Louis insatiably jealous.  
“WHAT!” Louis exclaimed.  
“Yes.” Harry nodded. “And I came because I needed answers. If I’m going to move on, like you said, then I need closure, Louis.”  
Harry crossed his arms as he stared at the other boy who still had no idea what to say.  
“Move on?” he asked. “With Liam?”  
“Yeah, why is this so hard for you to understand?” Harry asked.  
“B-But-” Louis stammered. “He’s our friend. No Harry, don’t do this, not with him.”  
“Why?” Harry asked. “He likes me, I like him.”  
“J-Just- UGH!” Louis pulled at his hair and threw himself onto the couch. Harry rolled his eyes and sat down at the other end of the couch, watching him amused.  
“You sure you want me to move on?” He asked. “Cause it sure seems like-”  
“Oh shut up, Harry.” Louis snapped. “Of course I do, I’m just thinking of Liam here.”  
“Oh,” Harry said in a small voice, looking at his hands.  
“You want answers?” Louis barked. “Here’s your answers. You’re annoying, whiny and clingy and I can’t deal with it, okay? You complained whenever I had to leave the room, you held on to me like I was going to fly away, you never gave me enough space and I’m sorry, but you were always may more committed to this relationship than I was. You were in way to deep with me and I didn’t, don’t, feel the same way.”  
He finished with a snarl and Harry shrunk against the back of the couch with every word he spat at him.  
He stared back with big, sad eyes. He could feel tears forming, but he willed them away.  
Before, he thought he would do anything to get Louis back, because Louis was all he wanted, but after that spiel, he wasn’t so sure.  
If what Louis said was true, then Harry’s heart was truly broken and his feels completely changed.  
Now, Harry thought Louis was an asshole, not the amazing guy in fell in love with, and he most certainly didn’t want him back.  
Louis was breathing heavily, the frown still on his face, as he looked at the way Harry was breaking in front of him. It was like the break-up all over again.  
“You know what.” Harry said after a while. “I did actually come here with the tiniest bit of hope that I could win you back, but- I don’t think I want you back anymore.”  
He sniffled and looked back down at his hands as Louis’ face softened.  
“Harry-”  
“No,” Harry held up a hand as he stood up. “You were right, you don’t feel the same way I do, because I have no feelings left for you anymore.”  
He was getting more and more worked up as he spoke, his voice getting louder and louder.  
“And I know you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so goddamn weird about Liam and I. I know you Louis and I know exactly what that was. You’re jealous. You’re jealous that I like someone else who is not you, and that is so hypocritical because you obviously never even liked me in the first place. But I don’t care, not anymore.”  
He was breathing more heavily as he got angrier.  
“I think I was blinded by my feelings for you. I idolized you and you just led me on! Louis, I’m going to do what you wanted. I’m moving on. UGH! I can’t believe I ever fell for a guy like you!” Harry shook his head and stood up with a huff, making his way out of the room.  
“Oh,” He stopped in the doorway and turned back around. “And thanks for the answers, that’s all I’ll ever need from you so goodbye, and don’t talk to me again!”  
He gave one last look to the shocked boy sitting on the couch before leaving Louis, his eyes wide in surprise, and storming out of the apartment.  
Louis sat there as he heard the door slam closed, unsure of what to do. He never thought Harry would have gotten so angry, he’d never seen him like that.  
Yeah, he supposed Harry had a right to be upset considering the things Louis just said to him, but the moment they had left his mouth, he regretted it.  
He sat frozen, a hand over his mouth as the conversation replayed in his head. He couldn’t wipe the image of Harry’s heartbroken face from his head, and he felt guilty.  
It made him almost, almost, want to hold him and kiss him again and maybe it crossed his mind that he‘d done the wrong thing by letting him go.  
“No,” He whispered to himself before tears started streaming down his face. “Don’t go…I-I-”  
He cut himself off as he choked out a sob, but the sentence continued in his head.  
‘I love you.’  
.  
Meanwhile, Harry was storming out of the apartment building, his hands stuffed deep in his coat pockets as he muttered curse words under his breath.  
He was so angry at Louis that he was sure he was over him. He couldn’t possibly still love someone who would say all those horrible things and not even apologize.  
“Well why did you even fucking date me in the first place?” Harry said to himself. “If I’m that fucking horrible and you really can’t stand me that much, then why did you even get with me to start with? Ugh!”  
He kicked a pot plant after jogging down the steps of the building and swore before continuing his way down the street.  
Harry knew exactly where he was going and who he was going to see, so he hurried to get there.  
Once he’d arrived at the building, he took to the steps two at a time before trying to find the right room number.  
There were a few people out in the corridor, making it a little more difficult as he weaved his way through them, searching for the right room.  
When he saw the right number he walked up to the door and knocked.  
Harry ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated breath before taking a step back as he waited.  
As soon as the door opened he stepped forward again with a hopeful face.  
“Harry?”   
“Liam,” Harry breathed out when he saw him.  
“Hey,” Liam answered, pleasantly surprised as he hugged him. “What are you doing here?”  
Harry smiled as soon as Liam had finished his sentence, he surged forward, grasped his face and kissed him.  
Liam kissed back immediately and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him inside and closing the door behind him.  
He pulled back breathless.   
“You spoke to Louis?” He breathed as their heads rested together.  
“Yeah,” Harry whispered back   
“What happened?” He asked.  
“It’s done.” Harry answered with a smile. “I’m okay, and he’s done.”  
Liam nodded and smiled before he pulled Harry in again and crashed their lips together.  
They moved to the couch and kissed for a little bit longer before they slowed down, shared a few pecks and stopped.  
“Good, I’m glad.” Liam whispered as they lay in each other’s arms.  
“So am I.” Harry replied, leaning down to kiss Liam’s temple affectionately.  
And it was the truth. Harry was glad that he could finally leave Louis behind for good.


	11. Chapter 11

A week had passed and Harry and Liam were going strong. They were happy together and Liam treated Harry right. It was early days, but they were smitten, the honeymoon stage in full swing.   
They had decided not to tell anyone yet. They weren’t sure what people would say about Harry moving on so quickly, especially considering how in love he was with Louis, and they didn’t want to deal with any of their judgment. So they were happily being adorable in private.  
Louis on the other hand had been a mess all week. He barely slept, images of Harry and Liam playing in his head all the time. He realized he’d made a mistake. He didn’t want Harry to be with anyone else. The curly headed boy as his, and only his.   
But it was too late.  
He couldn’t take back the hurtful things he’d said and he couldn’t change what he’d already done.  
So as he dragged his exhausted body from his bed on Monday morning and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, he was shocked at his appearance.  
He had bags under his eyes and his hair felt thin and gross. He hadn’t been taking care of himself, not since he realized it didn’t matter.  
All he wanted was Harry back, but he knew he couldn’t.  
He rested his hands on his stomach, running is fingers over where he could feel his ribs. Harry used to lay his head there, he thought to himself.  
He thought about the curly headed boy for a minute, remembering all the details of his face before pushing it as far from his brain as possible. He didn’t want to think about it more or he’d get really upset and he had to leave the house soon.  
So Louis groaned and turned away, not wanting to look anymore and ran a shower.  
When he stepped out, he quickly dried himself and trudged to his cupboard where he pulled out the first items of clothing he saw before throwing them on.  
He looked himself in the eye through the mirror, calling himself every bad name under the sun for what he had done as he ran a hand through his hair, not bothering to dry it before he grabbed his bag and left the room.  
He swung it over his shoulder before leaving the apartment and making his way to the coffee shop where his friends were surely waiting.  
Usually, he walked with Zayn, but he had told him not to that morning. He was too upset to deal with Zayn’s questioning.  
As he walked, he plugged in his earphones in the hope that the sorrowful music would drown out his thoughts, but he failed.  
All Louis could see was Harry and Liam together and the only thing running through his head was how much he hated Liam for stealing his precious boy away.  
Then he remembered it was all his fault for letting Harry go in the first place.  
He almost walked straight past the café as he was so deep in thought.  
As he opened the door, Louis spotted Niall and Zayn sitting at their usual table. He took out his earphones and put them away before slapping on a fake smiled and strolling over.  
He didn’t want them to know he was upset, it would only make them upset and then the questions would never end.  
“Hey boys!” He chirped as he sat next to Zayn, leaving the two chairs opposite them for Harry and Liam when they arrived.  
“Hi Louis!” Niall answered.  
“Hey Lou, how are you?” Zayn asked with a smile.  
“Yeah, great.” Louis lied. “Have you ordered?”  
“Yeah,” Zayn replied, making Louis stand up to go and order his coffee.  
When it was ready, the three drinks were brought out to their table, just as Harry came breathlessly rushing into the shop.  
“Hey! Sorry guys!” He said with a grin as he sat down opposite Louis. “Was just running late, is all.”  
“Hey Harry.” Niall replied with a nod along with Zayn.  
Louis just sat there staring at the hot mess of a boy he was sitting in front of. Harry’s hair was a mess and he was slightly red in the face, regardless of the weather outside.  
It seemed like he ran there.  
“Where’s-”  
“Hey!”  
Their heads all turned around to see Liam come through the door and over to where they were all sitting.  
Louis mumbled something under his breath and turned back around to see Harry still staring sweetly over at the brown-eyed boy, his face glowing.  
“Hey,” Liam said again, this time only to Harry as he sat down next to him opposite Niall.  
“Running late too?” Louis rose an eyebrow in suspicion. He was greeted with a warning look from Harry and an embarrassed one from Liam.  
The other two just looked lost.  
“Louis.” Zayn chastised him under his breath, making Louis roll his eyes with a huff.  
“Whatever.” He muttered as he picked up the drink and took a sip.  
“So, how are we all?” Liam asked and Louis wondered what happened to the quiet guy because he much preferred it when he didn’t talk.  
“Great.” Harry said with a smile as he reached up to pull of his beanie and wipe his forehead.  
“That’s mine.” Louis snapped as he reached forward to snatch the burgundy wool from Harry’s hand.  
“Oh, yeah, right, uh, sorry.” Harry stuttered as he looked down and Zayn sent another accusatory look at Louis.  
Louis just flashed his ex a fake smile before shoving the hat in his pocket.  
Liam gave Harry a warm look to make him feel better that went unnoticed by everyone except Louis who tried to ignore it.  
“So, what’s everyone doing tonight?” Zayn asked the group with a smile.  
“Um, I don’t think we’re doing anything?” Harry asked Liam who shook his head with a smile. The statement made Louis’ head shoot up and stare at them both.  
He knew that Zayn and Niall had no idea about Liam and Harry, only he knew because Harry had told him to try and make him jealous the other night.  
“We’re?” Louis questioned, hoping to out them in front of the others. “Since when did you speak for him too?” He asked Harry who blushed furiously.  
“Uh-”  
“I think he was just asking him, Louis.” Niall observed. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter.” He finished with a smile as everyone went back to talking about their plans.  
Louis scowled is plan hadn’t worked and went back to staring at the table.  
He wanted the others to know so that they would feel sorry for him because Harry had moved on so quickly, then they might help him get Harry back.  
Yeah, to Louis, that sounded like a good idea.  
“What about a pizza night at my place?” Zayn suggested after they’d all revealed they were doing nothing.  
They all seemed to agree, even Louis who was still sulking.  
“Cheer up, Lou.” Niall nudged his shoulder. “Its only school, no need to be this pissy about it.”  
The others all laughed, except Harry, who was looking at Louis apologetically. Despite their argument, Harry still cared about Louis’ feelings and didn’t like seeing him upset.  
“I’m sorry.” Harry whispered once he was sure the other three were wrapped up enough in their conversation that they wouldn’t pay them any attention.  
“No, you’re not.” Louis answered. “This is what you wanted. You’ve moved on. Good for you.”  
“Loubear-” Harry begun.  
“No, you don’t get to call me that anymore.” Louis snapped, luckily not disturbing the others.   
“Lou-” Harry started again.  
“What about Libear?” He suggested, nodding towards Liam. “I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”  
Harry was at a loss for words as he stared back at Louis, still so incredibly sorry for obviously making him upset.  
“I’m sorry.” He said again, blinking away tears, but Louis just rolled his eyes and leant back against the chair.  
“What’s gotten your knickers in a twist?” Zayn asked after he noticed Louis leaning back and looking pissed off.  
“Nothing.” Louis said, staring blanking at Harry. “I’m not in a ‘twist’.”  
“Sure.” Zayn answered with a laugh.  
“Why don’t you ask these two?” Louis continued. “The happy couple?”  
“What?” Niall laughed in confusion while Harry and Liam just stared at Louis in shock and fear.  
“Yeah.” Louis pressed, a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms. “They might have something to tell us, who knows?”  
He gave them a nod as the couple looked down in shame and Zayn and Niall’s faces turned to surprise.  
“What?” Zayn asked them.   
“Yeah, you’ve seemed awfully close lately.” Louis said. “Anything to tell us?”  
“Wait.” Zayn held up a hand at Louis as he turned to face Harry and Liam, both bright red in the face. “You two?”  
“Um,” Liam said, looking at Harry who looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Uh, yeah. We’re um, together?”  
“Like, boyfriends?” Niall asked, a smile growing on his face.  
“Yeah,” Harry said lowly. “Yeah we are.”  
“THAT’S GREAT!” Niall exclaimed as he patted both of their hands and Louis’ mouth dropped in surprise, though he quickly composed himself.  
“Yeah guys!” Zayn added. “Congrats.”  
“Mmhm.” Louis added. “That’s awesome. Good for you guys.”  
“Thanks.” Harry breathed in relief.  
“I’ve gotta go.” Liam announced, going to stand up. “Class starts soon, bye guys!”  
“See ya!” Zayn waved.  
“Not going to kiss your boy goodbye?” Louis muttered, making Harry look at him in shock and Liam pause.  
The brunet seemed to catch on to Louis’ little game and foul attitude, so he took a few steps backwards, grabbed Harry’s cheeks and pulled him up for a kiss.  
Harry squeaked, but melted into it as the others only stared back, unable to look away.  
“Bye baby.” He whispered against Harry’s lips as they pulled back. “Bye everyone.” He added as he waved at them, not making eye contact with Louis, as he left.  
Zayn shook his head as he realized what Liam was doing to Louis.  
Niall was frozen, his jaw practically hitting the table.  
Harry giggled to himself as he looked down, red in the face but smiling like a little school girl.  
And Louis sneered and muttered some sort of profanity under his breath, pissed off at the newcomer to their group for stealing his Harry.


	12. Chapter 12

“Um, Harry?”  
Harry snapped his head up at the sound of his name being called. He looked up across the table to see all 3 boys staring at him with questioning expressions.  
Around them, the café continued unaware at what was about to unfold at their table.  
“Yeah?” He asked.  
“What was that?” Niall asked him slowly and Harry all of a sudden felt like shrinking away.  
“What was what?” He asked, desperately trying to avoid the topic.  
“Harry.” Zayn deadpanned. “With Liam. What’s going on?”  
Harry drew his gaze up off the table to look up at his friends.  
Zayn looked confused. Niall looked excited.   
Then he looked over at Louis.  
Louis’ eyebrows were furrowed as he stared down at his fingers, fidgeting in his lap. He sniffled a little bit, but it was from a cold, not because he was upset. He would never admit to being upset over Harry and Liam.  
Harry stared at him for a moment, almost sorry, before looking back at the other two.  
“Um, u-uh, well,” he stuttered as he searched for the words. “We’re, uh, t-together?”  
“Yeah, we’re aware.” Zayn replied. “You just told us. I mean, like, when? Where? How- OW! What even, Ni?”  
Niall smacked his arm to cut him off with a grin. “Shut up and let the man speak. I wanna hear this story.”  
He leant forward and put his chin in his hands like a cupcake so he could listen.  
Harry let out a chuckle before looking to the other two to make sure it was okay.  
Zayn nodded and leant forward as well so he could hear the story too.  
Louis, however, was still sitting there, looking down at his lap. Harry’s heart broke a little as he realized what was going to happen.  
He didn’t want to tell the story of him and Liam getting together while Louis was sitting right there, because he knew that Louis was upset about it, he could tell.  
He gulped and continued staring at his feathery hair and imagined the way it used to feel when he ran his fingers through his hair.  
Then, Louis looked up and their eyes met. Harry’s breath hitched as he saw Louis’ wet, bright blue eyes, and tears threatening to fall.  
Harry tried his hardest to convey how sorry he was but Louis just looked crushed.  
He didn’t want to show how much it got to him, but Louis couldn’t help it. He realized what he’d done and what he’d lost, just a little too late.  
“I have to go to class.” Louis announced, pushing his chair away as he stood up.  
“Oh, okay!” Zayn answered, completely oblivious. “See ya!”  
Louis didn’t reply, he just gave Harry one last sad look as he left the café. Harry eyed him the whole way, not wanting to miss anything if he decided to turn around.  
He didn’t.  
“Okay, Harry.” Niall said, reaching over the table to catch Harry’s attention. He turned back around with a smile and tried to cover up the guilt he was feeling over Louis.  
“Now spill.” Niall commanded with a devilish grin.  
“Okay,” Harry nervously laughed. “Well.”  
And so Harry told the story of what had happened over the previous week, from when Harry and Liam met, to the kiss they just shared.  
He finished with a shy smile as he looked up at his friends who sat there slightly shocked.  
“Wait,” Niall held up a hand. “You went to Louis’ place?!”  
“Yeah.” Harry nodded.  
“Like, a week ago?” He asked again.   
“Yeah.” Harry repeated.  
“And you didn’t tell us?!” Niall exclaimed, turning to Zayn. “That must be why Louis was acting like such a sad sack of shit all week.” He laughed and Zayn pushed his head away with a roll of his eyes.  
“He’s upset, leave him alone.” Zayn muttered under his breath, so Niall couldn’t hear, but Harry caught it.  
“What?” Harry asked, cutting a rambling Niall off. “What do you mean?”  
“Oh, uh.” Zayn drawled. “Nothing.”  
“That was not nothing.” Harry stated. “He’s upset?”  
Zayn sighed, giving in. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything, but seeing his best friend be down all the time was hurting him. So he decided to let it out.  
“Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it?” Zayn asked him. “He’s been miserable all week.”  
“Wait, he’s upset because of Liam and I?” Harry asked, suddenly feeling even more guilty.   
“Well, yeah.” Zayn stated.  
“I-I didn’t know…” Harry whispered.  
“He came over the night you spoke to him and told me everything.” Zayn confessed. “He’s not holding up too well.”  
“Hold up.” Niall interrupted. “Everyone knew this story except me?”  
Both Zayn and Harry nodded and Niall gasped.   
“Even you?” He asked Zayn.  
“Yeah,” He admitted. “I just didn’t want to say anything before.” He shrugged and leant back.  
“Wow…” Niall breathed as he shook his head.  
“What did he tell you?” Harry asked Zayn, still worried about Louis.  
“Nothing that I’m going to tell you.” Zayn answered. “He wouldn’t want me to.”  
“B-But…” Harry stuttered, not knowing what to say. “I did that to him? But what about… what he said to me?” He asked, not wanting to give away too much in front of Niall.  
“He was saying what he thought you needed to hear, what he thought was the right thing to say, instead of what he actually wanted to say…” Zayn said. “You can’t tell him I told you, he’ll be so pissed off.”  
“Yeah,” Harry breathed, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah.”  
“I should get to class.” Harry announced, standing up frantically. “I’ll, uh, see you later.”  
He shakily picked up his bag and left the café, keeping his head down as he walked to the campus.   
“Harry!”  
Harry turned around to see Niall pushing his way through people to catch up with him down the busy street.  
“Hey, wait up.” He said with a smile just as he joined him.   
Harry gave him a half hearted smile back as they kept walking in silence.  
“You okay?” Niall asked after a while.  
“Do you think it’s my fault?” Harry asked, disregarding Niall’s question.  
“Louis broke up with you, Hare.” Niall answered in a soft voice. “After the pain he put you through, he got what he wanted.”  
Harry shook his head.  
“I feel so guilty though…”  
“Do… do you want him back?” Niall asked.  
“No!” Harry exclaimed. “I’m happy with Liam. He’s great and I like being with him, I guess I just feel bad for Lou.”  
Niall nodded, but what he didn’t know was that what Harry had said was only half true.  
“Well, good!” Niall chirped. “I’m glad you’re happy.”  
“Thanks.” Harry answered with a smile before they continued walking.  
Harry was glad to have a friend like Niall to make him feel better, because in hindsight, he was right. Louis had put him through hell when they’d broken up, it was horrible and the other week when Harry had gone to his place, the exact same thing had happened and Louis had gotten a taste of his own medicine.  
That made Harry feel better, knowing that Louis had hurt the same way that he had.  
“Hey, and don’t forget, my place tonight!” Niall told him, interrupting his thoughts as they approached the university. “Movie night with the five of us. You’d better be there.”  
Harry nodded.  
“Shall do.” He saluted Niall and they both laughed before splitting their own ways and heading to class.


	13. Chapter 13

“Louis, you’re being mean.”  
Louis rolled his eyes at his friend as they walked up and down the supermarket isles, getting food for Niall’s movie night because apparently, the blonde forgot and he was too busy to get any before tonight.  
“Whatever.” He scoffed as he stopped next to the chips and looked at the different flavours. “Hey, which ones was it that Niall wanted us to bring?”  
“Don’t change the topic.” Zayn chastised, standing next to him with his arms crossed.  
Louis didn’t answer, so Zayn huffed. “Salt and vinegar.” He answered.   
Louis grabbed two packets off the shelf and threw them in the trolley before continuing down the isle.  
“What else did he want us to get?” Louis asked again, making Zayn even more pissed off.  
“Louis, stop avoiding the topic!” He exclaimed.  
A woman nearby looked up at them, her eyes wide, making Zayn apologize quietly before turning back to Louis.  
“What!” Louis snapped and turned around to face him, ignoring the looks they were getting. “What! What do you want me to say!”  
“Louis, you’re being horrible to him. I know you’re my best mate, but Liam’s my oldest friend and he’s still a good bloke.” Zayn chastised.   
“I haven’t even done anything…” Louis muttered, going back to the trolley to push it around the corner.  
“Uh, are you kidding me?” Zayn asked. “For the past week, since he started hanging around with Harry you’ve been rude and now that they’re dating… its not even been one day and he’s already complaining about the comments and looks you give him.”  
“Jesus, this kid mustn’t have any balls, one day and he’s already told on me…” Louis mumbled again, stopping the trolley next to the sweets. “Which ones did he want?”  
“Just get two bags of MnMs and we’re done.” Zayn snapped.   
“Okay, okay.” Louis put his arms up in surrender before doing as Zayn said. “Calm down.”  
“Calm down?” Zayn asked. “I just want you to be civilized around them. They’re allowed to be happy, you know, without you giving them hell to pay for simply being together.”  
He ran a hand over his face as Louis stood there in shock, looking back at his ‘best friend’.  
“I thought I told you about what happened when Harry came over to talk.” Louis said in an eerily calm voice. “I thought I explained to you how he left me there, on the floor with tears falling down my face as he walked out and chose Liam over me. I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to hate the stupid bloke just a little bit for that.”  
“Louis. You did the same thing to Harry.” Zayn pointed out. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad for what you did, but that was exactly how you made Harry feel.”  
“I-I… I didn’t- I m-mean-” Louis stuttered, it suddenly hitting him again.   
He knew that he’d gotten a taste of his own medicine, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. He still wanted his Harry back so he could apologise and hold him and promise him he’d never hurt him again.  
“Louis, I’m sorry that sounded harsh.” Zayn said. “But it doesn’t give you the right to torment them just because you lost him.”  
Louis bit his bottom lip and nodded before pushing the trolley into the next isle.  
“Did Ni want anything else?” Louis asked in a small voice. “Like, we could bring some drink?”  
“He didn’t ask for any, but I think we should, to be nice.” Zayn answered, trying to be sensitive. “Maybe some beers?”  
“Yeah, okay.” Louis nodded and directed them to the alcohol. He shook his head and smiled trying to go back to his usual self as he didn’t want Zayn’s pity.  
.  
“Be nice.” Zayn whispered as he knocked on Niall’s front door.  
“Yes mum.” Louis grinned back at him as Zayn smacked the back of his head.  
“I’m serious.” Zayn answered. “If you so much as give either of them one single ounce of shit tonight, I’ll lose it at you.”  
“Okay.” Louis replied, looking at the chips in his hands as his smile disappeared. He was going to try, because what Zayn said in the supermarket was true, he shouldn’t be horrible just because Liam had what Louis wanted.  
“Louis! Zayn!”  
Louis head snapped up as Niall opened his door to greet them. He had a beer in his hand and smile on his face as he let them in. “Come in guys! Come in!”  
“Heya Ni.” Zayn replied, an equally as big smile on his face as he went in.  
Louis tried to be as enthusiastic as them, but he considered them lucky that he was even smiling considering what he was going to have to endure that night.  
He really wasn’t’ looking forward to seeing Harry and Liam together, but he didn’t want Zayn to kick his ass for being mean, so he decided to at least try and be pleasant.  
“Hi Niall.” He said as he walked in the door.  
The three of them walked down the hallway to the kitchen where they dumped the food and drinks they brought before going into the lounge to see Harry and Liam cuddled up on the couch.  
Zayn walked in first and sat with Niall on one of the couches with a smile and quick “hello” to both of them.   
Louis, however, walked in and saw them together, grimaced at them, which made Harry spring away in fear before going to sit next to Zayn.  
Harry watched, trying to stay away from Liam as he didn’t want to hurt Louis’ feelings, as Louis attempted to act cool. He knew the truth though, he could read Louis like a book, he knew exactly how he was feeling just by glancing at his face and there was no way Louis was happy about the situation.  
Harry looked back at Liam, who seemed a little hurt, and tried to smile at him to make it better, but it would come. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to smile when Louis was so obviously hurting.  
“So!” Niall announced once he and Zayn had finished chatting. “What movie, boys?”  
Louis tuned out at that point, not really caring what they watched. He just wanted to sit and brood.  
“I’ll get the food.” Louis said, interrupting Liam’s suggestion of Batman before standing up and moving into the kitchen.  
He ran a hand over his face, trying to compose himself. He wanted to not care, but he did. He wanted Harry in his arms and cuddling with him while they watched movies, not Liam.  
He grabbed a bag of crisps and emptied them into a bowl, dropping half of them on the floor as he did.  
“Shit.” He cursed as he watched them fall, quickly trying to save a few. He squatted down to clean them up, crawling around the floor to find them all, when he came face to face with a very familiar pair of brown boots.  
“You right?”  
Louis’ head snapped up to look at Harry as he stood there with a lopsided grin. He jumped up as fast as he could, hitting his head on the corner of the bench as he did.  
“Ow!” He exclaimed, rubbing the spot as his face scrunched up in pain, dropping the crisps he had collected.  
“Oh my God!” Harry said worriedly, his casual act dropping as he saw Louis in pain. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry!” He came towards the shorter boy with extended arms and Louis was practically paralyzed, unable to move away.  
Harry placed his hands on Louis’ head, trying to see the spot and make sure he was okay. It didn’t even cross his mind that he shouldn’t be doing it, he just wanted to make sure Louis was okay.  
“Are you okay?” He repeated, slightly softer this time as they were closer.  
He ran his fingers through Louis’ hair as he frantically tried to see if he was hurt and once he realized that he was, he stopped acting so quickly. His hands slowly raked backwards, down through his brown locks until they reached his neck.  
“Y-Yeah,” Louis answered, looking up into Harry’s eyes as he shivered from the touch. “Yeah, it’s ok-kay.”  
Harry nodded and moved his hands to Louis’ shoulders, still looking into his eyes.  
“Uh, g-good.” He stuttered, becoming flustered around his ex. “W-We wouldn’t want that, uh, p-pretty head of yours getting h-hurt, now would w-we?” he finished with a nervous chuckle that Louis found endearing.  
Louis had completely forgotten about the chips and why he was even in the kitchen as he looked up at the one thing he wanted most.  
He even forgot that he wasn’t supposed to have it.  
He nervously smiled back up at him and shook his head. “N-No. I guess n-not.”  
He lightly rested his hands on Harry’s shoulders as the taller boy’s arms snaked around his waist.  
Louis gulped as his fingers found the curls at the bottom of Harry’s neck and he slowly pulled himself closer. Harry obliged and clung to his back while their lips got closer and closer.  
Louis’ eyes fluttered closed as they brushed lips, almost connecting.  
Then, Harry surged forward and captured his mouth in his own, catching Louis’ off guard.  
It was like heaven. It had been so long and yeah, both of them had missed this. Louis moaned when Harry swiped his tongue along his bottom lip and pulled him even closer against his chest.  
Harry pulled back after a while and leant their foreheads together, smiling down at Louis who was doing the same thing.  
Harry held Louis’ hands in his own as he took a step backwards, still grinning like an idiot.  
“So, do you want some help?” He asked.  
“W-What?” Louis answered, still in a daze from Harry’s kiss.  
“With the food?” Harry asked again. “Do you want a hand?”  
“Y-Yeah.” Louis nodded, biting his bottom lip as he smiled.  
Harry gave him a nod back and moved around to the bench to get another bag of crisps.  
Louis bent back down to get the dropped food, using the bench as a shield so Harry couldn’t see him grinning.  
He momentarily leant back against it, taking in what had just happened. He didn’t know what it meant, or where it left them, but he was so incredibly happy that it had happened.  
Because it had to have meant something.  
He grabbed the last of the crisps from the floor before standing up and putting them all in the bin.  
“I’ll get the beers.” Louis said, still smiling like a schoolgirl because of Harry, even as he went to the fridge to get the drinks.  
When he turned around, Harry was waiting for him, crisps in hand.  
They had both seemed to be more confident after the initial kiss, now that they knew they were both on the same page.  
Louis gave him one last smile before moving past him to go back into the other room where the others were.  
“Wait!” Harry exclaimed, making Louis turn around confusedly.   
“What-” He started but he was cut off by Harry’s lips on his again.  
He melted into it, kissing back just as passionately. However, it was short-lived.   
Harry pulled back with a smile.  
“Just wanted to leave you with that.” He whispered before leaving the room and a very happy Louis.


	14. Chapter 14

A few hours, a few movies and quite a few drinks later, all 5 boys were sprawled across the couches, Harry and Niall were drunk, as they watched the end of The Lego Movie (they were too drunk to think of anything better to watch)  
Zayn and Liam had decided not to drink so that they could look after the others.  
Louis was just too grumpy to join in on their dumb drinking games, so he remained sober as well, leaving just the two young’uns pissed out of their minds.  
Louis kept his eyes glued on the TV screen, too scared to look at any of the boys incase he happened to see Harry and Liam making out.  
Niall sat next to him, head on his shoulder as he fought to stay awake, giggling to himself every few minutes.  
Zayn sat on his other side, making sure that Louis was behaving himself. He had been like a parent all night, scolding him for his snide comments and throwing him glares when he was being rude.  
Harry and Liam, however, hadn’t done anything remotely sexual during the films. They simply sat next to each other, Harry’s legs over Liam’s as the brown-eyed guy stroked his head.  
Once the movie finished, Louis shrugged his shoulder to wake up Niall.  
“Fuck.” He said as he jumped up, Louis haven given him a fright, before he started giggling again.  
“Sorry not sorry.” Louis shrugged again, making Zayn nudge him for the billionth time that night. Louis simply rolled his eyes and looked back up at Niall.  
He had been in a fantastic mood after Harry and him had had their moment in the kitchen.  
He had been grinning ear to ear as he watched Harry smile at him then leave the room. Even while he got the rest of the food and drinks, he was smiling like an idiot.  
But as soon as he went back into the lounge room, it fell away.  
Harry had gone right back to Liam, sitting in his lap as Liam pulled away from a kiss.  
Louis watched with his mouth open in disbelief as Harry turned to look at him, his face turning red in embarrassment.  
He looked down and buried his head in Liam’s neck to avoid looking at his ex, who’s eyes were full of heartbreak.  
Louis didn’t smile again all night.  
He went about his way, completely ignoring the curly haired lad and dropping comments under his breath towards Liam.  
Until the movie finished and Niall stood up, then Louis allowed himself to look over at Harry.  
He had fallen asleep and had his head resting on Liam’s shoulder. He looked adorable, his mouth slightly open as a long piece of hair fell in his face.  
Louis watched as Liam tenderly moved it back and kissed his forehead, making Louis grimace and turn away.  
He didn’t want to see that.  
“I’m gon h-head off.” Niall mumbled and hiccupped through his alcoholic breath and laughs. “Bed. Good night.”  
They all watched as he stumbled his way to the bedroom, bumping into things on the way.  
“Yeah, I think I’m going to go too.” Zayn added. “I’ll see you lads in class. Do you want a ride, Lou?”  
Zayn asked, him giving him a meaningful glare, which meant that Louis was supposed to say yes.  
“No, I’m okay.” Louis chirped with a fake smile.  
“Louis-”  
“I’ll be fine, you go.” He continued. “Bye Z.”  
Zayn took a deep breath before shaking his head. “Fine, whatever.” He mumbled to himself as he walked towards the door.  
“Bye.” He said one last time to Liam before leaving the apartment.  
Then Liam stood up, moving Harry from his lap carefully so he was lying across the couch instead.  
“I’ll, uh, come back for him.” Liam told Louis. “I’ll go start the car, warm it up, and then get him.”  
Louis simply nodded, his fake smile still present.  
Liam gave him an awkward, curt nod before leaving the apartment, shutting the door with a bit of a slam.  
The noise was enough to wake Harry, who sat up with a start.  
“Wha?” He said, rubbing his eyes as he looked around.  
“Your boyfriend is coming back, don’t worry.” Louis spat, his arms still crossed as he sat on the opposite couch, watching.  
“O-Okay.” Harry stuttered as he sat up and looked back at Louis, rubbing his eyes one more time. He was still half asleep and still intoxicated.  
Louis knew he should have just gone home, like he was supposed to. He should have just stood up and walked out of the apartment.  
But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.  
All of a sudden, Harry stood up shakily and stumbled towards the other couch where Louis was sitting.  
“No.” Louis said, shaking his head as he tried to move away, but his body wouldn’t do as he wanted. “Nononono.”  
“Hi.” Harry chirped as he sat next to Louis, leaning over so their faces were close.  
“Stop.” Louis repeated, trying to push him away.  
“You’re preeeetty.” Harry sung, giggling to himself as he watched Louis, quite clearly drunk out of his mind.  
“Gross.” Louis shook his head, smelling the beer on his breath. “I’m not Liam. I don’t want to hear your stupid relationship talk.”  
Louis put a hand on Harry shoulder and tried to push himself away, but his legs were trapped under Harry, so he ended up leaning backwards on his elbows.  
To Harry, it was an invitation. So he moved so he was on top of Louis, hands by the smaller boy’s head.  
“I know,” Harry whispered, his smile disappearing as their mouths got closer. “Lou.”  
Louis knew that if he had any common sense, he would have sprinted as fast and far as he could from that couch, but the feeling of having Harry with him again was just too good to leave behind.  
And knowing that Harry knew it was him and not Liam made it even better.  
“I’m a bad person.” Louis said to himself before grabbing Harry’s long hair in a fist and slamming his lips down onto his own.  
Harry moaned into Louis’ mouth and ran his hand down his body to his waist as he kissed back desperately.  
It was almost too good to be true in Louis’ head.  
Harry knew it was him and judging by the bulge pressing against Louis’ thigh, he wanted it just as badly.  
Louis wrapped his fingers through Harry’s hair, tugging it slightly, the way he knew Harry liked it.  
Harry squeezed Louis sides and rubbed circles into his hipbones as his tongue roamed his mouth.  
They kissed passionately, their tongues battling like it used to be.  
Then, the sounds of footsteps made them spring apart.   
They looked at each other in fear before Harry wiped his mouth and stumbled back to the other couch, closing his eyes as he laid back down, pretending to sleep.  
Louis couldn’t do anything but watch with wide eyes as Harry didn’t even give him a second look.   
He wiped his own mouth and pulled his shirt down just as the apartment door opened.  
“Did he wake up?” Liam asked as he entered, giving Harry a fond look.  
“No.” Louis snapped, standing up and straightening his clothes. “Bye.”  
He walked towards the door, not looking back, before grabbing his jacket and shrugging it on.  
He didn’t want to stay any longer, so he left the apartment and started on the stairs to the ground level.  
Once he was there, he pulled his jacket on tighter, trying to keep warm as he began to walk home.  
He couldn’t believe Harry had done it again. Once, in the kitchen, and then again on the couch. Harry just got all his hopes up, only to go running back to Liam.  
He kicked the pavement as he let out a sob, but there were no tears.  
He was upset with Harry for playing with his feelings, but he was so exhausted he wasn’t really feeling anything. He was just numb from Harry.   
It was all just a little too much.  
“Louis!”   
He turned around to see Liam walking towards him down the street.  
“Hey.” He said with a smile. “Do you want a lift home?”  
“No, I’m fine.” Louis said emotionlessly, too drained to even try to be mean.  
“C’mon.” Liam insisted, putting his arm around his shoulders as he steered him towards the car. “Its cold.”  
Louis didn’t protest, he just let Liam guide him.  
When he got to the car, he saw Harry lying across the back seat as Liam went to get in the drivers seat.  
He looked so cute and peaceful that every mean thing he had been thinking about the boy disappeared from his mind. He only thought about how much he loved him and he knew he couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to.  
It was bad that he let Harry get to him like that, but he didn’t really mind.  
Louis knew he was supposed to sit in the front, but he wanted to sit with Harry and he couldn’t give two flying fucks at that moment, so he climbed in next to the sleeping boy.  
Liam gave him an odd look, but didn’t say anything as Louis lifted Harry’s head and placed it in his lap.  
As the car started to pull away, Harry opened his eyes and looked up at Louis, it becoming obvious that he was never really sleeping.  
‘I’m sorry’ he mouthed to Louis with a sincere expression.   
Louis simply shook his head with a smile and stroked his hair, silently telling him it was okay. After all, it wasn’t Harry’s fault Liam had walked in and interrupted them.  
And Louis was having a very hard time staying mad at him when Harry was looking at him like that.  
Harry puckered his lips, asking for a kiss, but Louis knew he couldn’t, not with Liam in the front seat, so he pressed his finger there for Harry to kiss before bringing it up to his mouth to kiss.  
Harry smiled as he watched, then closed his eyes and went to sleep for real, the alcohol finally catching up to him.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry awoke the following morning with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head as he slowly started to move around under the sheets.  
Then he stopped as he realized he was in his own bed, alone in an empty apartment.   
He didn’t remember getting there last night.  
He sat up a little, rubbed his eyes and looked around. It was pretty bright outside, and upon looking at the clock, he realized he’d slept in.  
For a minute, he freaked out because he thought he’d missed a class, then he realized it was Saturday.  
Harry let out a breath and flopped back down onto the bed, thinking about how he ended up in his apartment when the last thing he remembered from the previous night was falling asleep in the back of Liam’s car with his head in Louis’ lap.  
Louis.  
He didn’t remember much from Niall’s last night, most of it was a blur but there was one thing he remembered clear as day.  
He froze when the memories of Louis came flooding back to his mind.  
The whole kitchen thing with the kiss and then again on the couch when they were alone.  
“Oh no… Oh nononono.” He breathed as he ran a hand over his face and cursed himself for being so stupid.  
He never meant to actually do that, he was only imagining it, because it had been so long without Louis by his side, he wanted know if he’d made the wrong decision.  
But because he was drinking, he acted without thinking.  
And he’d found out that he was right.  
Even though he really liked Liam and thought he was a great guy, it seemed almost wrong. Not when being with Louis had been so right.  
Being with Louis felt natural, like everything just fell into place effortlessly. They really had been perfect together, Louis was just scared of how full on Harry had been during their relationship.  
The kiss in the kitchen was perfect. He was taking a risk, because he knew that Louis was mad at him and probably didn’t ever want to speak to him again, but when he kissed back, all Harry’s inhibitions melted away.  
Harry sighed as he remembered. He didn’t want to mess with Louis’ head, because that was just cruel. The last proper conversation they’d had ended with Harry screaming at him that he never even liked him.  
“You were right, you don’t feel the same way I do, because I have no feelings left for you anymore.”  
He had said.  
“And I know you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so goddamn weird about Liam and I. I know you Louis and I know exactly what that was. You’re jealous. You’re jealous that I like someone else who is not you, and that is so hypocritical because you obviously never even liked me in the first place. But I don’t care, not anymore.  
I think I was blinded by my feelings for you. I idolized you and you just led me on! Louis, I’m going to do what you wanted. I’m moving on. UGH! I can’t believe I ever fell for a guy like you!”   
Harry felt like crying as he remembered all the horrible things he’d said to Louis.  
“No wonder he hates me…” Harry thought to himself as he rolled over.  
“But then again,” He continued in his mind. “He did seem very happy after I kissed him and he took care of me in the car. He ran his hand through my hair and kissed his finger, pressing it to my lips.”  
All Harry knew was that he wanted Louis back, and he as pretty sure Louis wanted him back too. But there was still one thing stopping him.  
Liam.  
“Shit.” Harry cursed as he sat up, holding his head before crawling out of bed and going to the kitchen to find some asprin.  
Once he found it, he downed two and went back to his bedroom to put some clothes on before sitting in the lounge, thinking over what he should do.  
He likes Liam, Liam is a great guy and makes Harry happy. But his feelings for Louis and deeper and stronger and he cant help but love the boy, even if he broke his heart twice.  
They’ve both been in the wrong now, both having said some pretty nasty things to each other and being apart has helped to show them just how much they were taking for granted.  
So Harry decided to go to Louis’ place.  
.  
Harry knocked on the door three times before taking a step back to wait.  
He started to have some second thoughts, like maybe it was a bad idea and maybe Louis didn’t feel what Harry thought he did, but it was too late to back out because the door swung open.  
“Harry?” Louis said as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, half hiding behind the door.  
He must’ve just woken up as he was only wearing an oversized sweater that just covered his ass.  
Harry smiled at him fondly, remembering when he used to wake up next to that.  
“Hey,” he said softly.  
“Uh, come in.” Louis said, holding the door open so Harry could enter the place.  
Harry did and kicked his shoes off, looking around. The last time he was there, was when he’d told Louis that he was with Liam and they’d had that huge fight.  
“Do you want tea?” Louis asked him as he followed behind Harry who was walking down the hall to the kitchen.  
“Please.” Harry said as they entered, sitting at the kitchen bench while Louis moved to the other side to make the drink.  
“So, uh, how are you feeling?” Louis asked with a chuckle, remembering Harry’s drunken state from the previous night.  
“I’ve been better.” Harry answered with a laugh, taking the drink Louis offered before his smile slowly disappeared.. “I, um, I wanted to talk about that actually. Last night, I mean.”  
“Okay.” Louis nodded, his smile fading as well.  
“Um, about what I did in the kitchen-”  
“Harry, its okay.” Louis cut him off with a sad smile. “You were drunk, I get it. You don’t have to try and let me down easy. I know it didn’t mean anything, don’t worry.”  
He didn’t mean it in a harsh way, he simply knew that it was too good to be true. He could have seen this conversation coming.  
“Oh, uh.” Harry stuttered. That was not what he was expecting. All of a sudden, all his doubts were back and maybe Louis didn’t feel the same way. “Yeah, okay.”  
“Don’t worry about little ol’ me.” Louis chuckled jokingly. “We’re mates, yeah. We tried ‘us’ and it didn’t work.” He added another laugh but really, he wanted to cry.  
Of course he wanted Harry to worry and of course he didn’t want them to be just mates and of course he wanted to give ‘us’ another chance.  
But Harry didn’t. He was with Liam.  
“Yeah.” Harry nodded, smiling a little as he sipped his tea.   
“So, how are you?” Louis asked. “Liam’s good?”  
“Yeah.” Harry repeated, trying to be enthusiastic but really he was dying inside. He had been wrong and Louis didn’t like him. Now he had to get over him all over again. “Imagine if we started all over again.” He laughed again before shaking his head. “Not good.”  
“Yeah,” Louis agreed. “Not good.”  
They both chuckled a little before calming down to leave them in an awkward silence.  
“Well,” Harry said, breaking the tension. “I should be off. It was good seeing you.”  
“Yeah, you too!” Louis agreed as they walked down the hallway and Harry pulled his shoes on.  
“Bye.” Harry said, standing up straight and looking Louis in the eye.  
The door was open and he knew he was supposed to step out, but he didn’t want to stop staring into Louis’ beautiful eyes.  
“Bye.” Louis whispered as he watched Harry lean forward. He panicked a little, thinking that maybe he was going to hug him or, god forbid, kiss him, so he stuck his hand out.  
Harry looked at it in amusement, but took it anyway, accepting the hand shake before leaving the apartment.  
Louis shut the door and leant his back against it, letting out a deep breath as he finally let his true emotions over come him.  
He felt hot tears coursing down his face and realized that that was it. Harry and him were officially over forever. The kiss meant nothing to him and obviously Louis was only a friend at best, so it was done.  
And Louis felt his heart break a little more.  
.  
If you’re pretending from the start like this, with a tight grip, then my kiss and mend your broken heart. I might miss everything you said to me. And I can lend you broken parts that might fit, like this. And I will give you all my heart, so we can start it all over again.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry trudged home in a strop. He was upset that Louis had dismissed him like that.  
“Harry, its okay.” He mocked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I know it didn’t mean anything, don’t worry. UGH!”  
As he walked, he thought about everything Louis meant to him and how much he wanted him back, regardless of what had happened between them in the past.  
Louis didn’t understand what he had done. He was always hiding his feelings and shutting Harry out and it made him upset. Harry wanted to be there for him, but Louis didn’t.  
Louis was frustrating and annoying. He was messy and Harry was always cleaning up after him. He made little noises when he chewed his food and yawned.  
But he was sweet and kind and one of the most incredible people Harry knew. He was gorgeous and all his little flaws, Harry secretly found endearing.  
Harry sighed as he realized he had calmed down, so he looked up at the night sky.   
The stars looked like little white lights in a never-ending stretch of blue velvet, too far away to reach but still close enough to admire.  
Louis was like one of those stars.  
Shining bright in the sky, as beautiful as anything, but just a little too far away. Out of reach.  
But Harry knew he would do anything to get within reach of him.  
All he wanted was to press the reset button and do it all again, but this time, it would be different.  
They would be happy and live happily ever after, Harry was sure of it.  
So he knew what he had to do.  
Harry opened the door to the building and rushed up the stairs before searching for the correctly numbered door.  
He took a deep breath, trying to push Louis from his mind so that he could concentrate.  
Once he found it, he knocked on the heavy wooden door and waited for it to swing open.  
“Harry, hi.”  
“Hey Liam.” Harry smiled nervously back and quickly turned his head a little when Liam went in to kiss him.  
Liam frowned, but tried to cover it up, however, Harry saw the change in his demeanor.  
“Come in.” He answered, a little taken aback at Harry’s deflection of his kiss, but polite nonetheless.  
“Thanks.” Harry nearly whispered as he stepped past him and into the lounge room.  
“We need to talk.”  
“We need to talk.”  
Both Harry and Liam spoke at the same time and stared at each other with the same nervously horrified expression.  
“We need to talk?” Liam asked, hurt written all over his face. “W-What?”  
“Uh,” Harry stuttered, unsure what to do.  
The two of them were still standing opposite each other, not knowing who should speak or what should be said.  
“Wait. Why, Harry?” Liam whispered as Harry chewed on his lip. He couldn’t look as could see tears forming in his eyes. He cared about Liam and couldn’t bear to make him upset.  
“W-Why did you say it?” Harry asked.  
“Don’t turn this around,” Liam said, shaking his head. “I know that face. I know what it means. What have you done?”  
“I-I,” Harry stuttered, running a hand through his hair.  
“Harry, please say something.” He asked.  
“I-I” He honestly didn’t know what to say. The only things he could say were only going to hurt him.  
“It’s Louis, isn’t it?” Liam continued, wiping his eyes as laughed humourlessly.  
Harry didn’t answer for a minute, sniffling as he felt his eyes becoming wet.   
“I-I’m sorry.” He whispered.  
“So am I.” Liam said through a sob.  
“Liam, what?” Harry asked.  
“I blame myself.” He confessed. “I-I saw the way you were with him and I didn’t say anything. I-I should have been there for you more, instead of letting him just waltz in and-”  
“Li, what are you talking about?” Harry asked.   
“It’s just,” Liam answered as he sighed. “This relationship already feels like a distant memory.”   
“Because of Louis?” Harry asked.  
“Because of the way that he is with you.” Liam clarified.   
Harry opened his mouth and tried to say something, anything, but nothing came out.  
“Because you still love him.” Liam added in a whisper.  
Liam searched his eyes for anything that would prove him wrong, but Harry couldn’t. He knew he was right.  
“I’m so sorry.” Harry sobbed. “I-I can’t help, h-how I feel.”   
He reached up to wipe his eyes as he watched Liam do the same. Harry took a step closer, but Liam stepped backwards.  
“What did you do, Harry?” Liam asked again.  
And so Harry explained. Harry told him all about what happened at Niall’s place with him and Louis.  
When he was done, Harry was in tears and Liam was shaking his head in disbelief. He ran a hand over his face as he let out a long breath.  
“No.” He whispered. “Please, no. I can’t do this.”  
“Li-” Harry tried but Liam held his hands up.  
“Harry, we can’t keep doing this, over and over.” Liam said, throwing his hands up as he pushed past his boyfriend to sit on the couch.  
Harry watched as he put his head in his hands and let out a deep breath.  
“I can’t keep pretending that I don’t notice the little things you do.” He continued as Harry sat next to him.  
“I see the way you look at each other. I see the little touches. I see the nervous breaths, the way you fix of your hair when he comes into the room, how you can’t take your eyes off him. Harry, I see it.”  
Harry didn’t know what to say. He thought maybe Liam didn’t see what had happened, but it was apparent he did.  
“I’m sorry.” Harry whispered.  
“Stop saying that.” Liam said, standing up and shaking his head. “Please, it only makes this harder.”  
He walked around the table and back to the couch.  
“Makes what harder?” Harry asked.  
“Harry, I think we both know.” Liam said, sitting back down and taking his hands. “You don’t want this anymore, do you?”  
Harry didn’t say anything as tears fell down his face. He took a hand back and wiped his cheek before putting it back for Liam to hold again.  
“I-I” Harry began, pausing to hiccup. “I care about you.”  
“And I care about you too,” Liam answered, reaching up to caress his cheek. “But you’re in love with Louis. And please, don’t deny it.”  
Harry looked into Liam’s eyes and tried to convey to him how sorry he was.   
“We need to break up.” Liam said with a sad smile, as hot tears rolled down his face.  
Harry looked down as he and the brown-eyed boy cried together, both knowing what had to happen.  
Liam put his arms around his now ex-boyfriend and pulling him in so that their heads rested on each other’s shoulder.  
“Go back to Louis.” Liam whispered in Harry’s ear. “You love each other, its clear as day.”  
The two leaned back and sniffled, wiping their eyes as they stood up.  
“Thank you.” Harry whispered at the door as they said their last goodbyes. “You have no idea how much you mean to me.”  
Liam pulled him in for a hug.  
“Same to you.” Liam said. “You mean so much, I- Goodbye, Harry.”  
Harry pulled back from the hug with a sad smile. “Bye, Li.” He answered.  
The two of them looked at each other for a minute before Harry finally left the dorm room.  
He wiped his eyes as the cool air hit him, but suddenly felt like a hug weight was lifted off his chest.  
He felt like shit for hurting Liam, but then again, he was free to see Louis.  
Funnily enough, a small smile appeared on his face, despite the sadness he was feeling over his recent break up.  
.  
anywhere I would have followed you, say something I’m giving up on you


	17. Chapter 17

Louis woke up that morning with red, puffy eyes.  
He stretched and rubbed his face, sighing deeply before rolling over.  
He didn’t want to get up, he didn’t want to have to go to class and more than anything, he didn’t want to see Harry.  
Lying to him had been the hardest thing Louis ever had to do, especially because he was in love with him and had to try to convince Harry that he wasn’t.  
He cried for a fair amount of the night at what he had lost, and he was pretty sure the tears had left stains on his cheeks.  
But alas, he had to go to class. So Louis reluctantly dragged himself from his bed and into the bathroom to shower.  
.  
Across town, Harry was doing the same thing in his apartment.  
He shook the water droplets from his hair as he wrapped a towel around his waist and stood in front of the mirror.  
He was hoping that when he spoke to Louis, he was going to believe him and want to be with him again. But instead, he found out that Louis didn’t have any feelings for him and the kiss meant nothing.  
Put that on top of his breakup with Liam, especially with all the crying and disappointment in his eyes, Harry was really upset.  
He spent most of the night crying and as he looked at himself in the mirror, he saw that the tear stains were finally gone from his face.  
As he styled his hair, he tried to do it the way he used to, to the side, when he and Louis first saw each other on orientation day, but it had gotten too long.  
It seemed nostalgia wasn’t going to be on his side today.  
After getting dressed, he went into his bedroom and got dressed before grabbing his things and heading for the door.  
He was going to meet the boys at the café, like they always did, and he was kind of hoping that Liam wouldn’t come.   
He wasn’t sure he could deal with a whole morning of seeing Liam’s sad eyes and trying to not blame himself for breaking his heart.  
.  
As he approached the small café, Louis saw a familiar head of curls through the crowded street. His heart stopped as he realized he was coming face to face with Harry.  
“Hi.” Harry greeted with a grin when they arrived at the door at the same time.  
“H-Hey.” Louis answered, keeping his head down as he went inside, leaving Harry outside, his smile fading.  
When Harry saw Louis coming towards him, looking slightly happier than he’d imagined, he thought maybe it was because Louis’ had changed his mind and wanted the kiss to mean something too.  
But when he was brushed off so coldly, he knew he was wrong.  
He squeezed his eyes closed before following Louis into the shop.   
His luck was even more shot when he saw Louis sitting at their table alone. The others hadn’t arrived yet.  
Great. He thought to himself.  
Harry hesitated and considered standing out the front of the building to wait for Zayn or Niall or even Liam to turn up first, but then realized he wanted to talk to Louis, regardless of what he might want.  
He took a deep breath and headed over to the table. Louis had his back to him so thankfully he hadn’t seen him yet.  
“H-Hey.” He tried again with a smile as he sat down opposite his ex.  
“Hi.” Louis said quietly, looking down at the table.  
“You okay?” Harry asked, seeing his state.  
“Yeah.” Louis answered, looking up finally and showing Harry his red-rimmed blue eyes.  
He sniffled a little and wiped them, making Harry’s heart ache.  
He was crying?  
“Lou,” He said softly, leaning across the table to hold his hands. “What’s wrong?”  
“N-Nothing.” Louis replied, trying to smile through the tears. “It’s fine.”  
“It’s not fine, your crying.” Harry repeated, looking at him sincerely. “You can talk to me about it, you always can, you know that.”  
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, shaking his head. “I-I, it’s just… I lied to you the other day.”  
“What?” Harry asked, confused.  
“When you came to talk to me about, t-the um, well, everything that happened at Niall’s.” He explained. “I lied.”  
“About what, exactly?” Harry asked again.   
“Well,” Louis gulped. “I, uh, it was about the kiss. And I don’t think I can keep this in anymore.” He took a deep breath before looking up into Harry’s eyes. “I didn’t mean what I said when I said it meant nothing. That kiss meant everything to me. It made me realize, what I had been feeling for a while.”  
“I-It did?” He stuttered, his face lighting up slightly. Apparently Louis didn’t see it.   
Louis nodded and took his hands back. He took a deep breath and looked away for a moment before turning back to Harry.  
“I’m sorry for lying to you, but I knew it didn’t mean anything to you and I didn’t want you to feel bad for me or anything. But I need to get it off my chest. I’m sorry for not saying this earlier, but you still mean so much to me, Harry. You have no idea how much you mean to me. And I know you don’t feel the same way, but that’s okay.”  
Harry opened his mouth to interrupt, but Louis cut him off.  
“And you don’t have to worry about me being weird around you, this isn’t going to change anything. We’re still just friends, yeah? Please, don’t let this change anything. I promise I wont be weird.”  
Louis finished with a bit of a chuckle as he wiped his eyes and waited for Harry’s response.  
He didn’t know what to say. Harry was in shock. Everything he ever wanted to hear from Louis had just been said. Followed by that goddammed ‘F’ word. Friends.  
He wanted to tell Louis that he and Liam had broken up and that they could get back together and that everything was going to be okay, they could be together, happily.   
“I-” Harry tried again to interject, but this time he was interrupted by the other two friends joining them.  
“Hey guys!” Niall said, sliding in next to Harry while Zayn sat next to Louis.  
“Hi.” Louis said with a smile, quickly wiping his face so the others didn’t notice him crying. “I actually have to get to class, early start. Bye.”  
“Lou-” Harry tried to get him to stay, but he was already standing and waving as he walked away.  
He let out a frustrated breath as Louis left the café and ran a hand through his hair.  
Niall and Zayn looked between the two of them and came to a realization.  
“Did we, interrupt something?” Zayn asked and Harry shook his head.  
“No,” Harry answered. “It’s okay. I’ll catch up with him later.”  
.  
I wish I could have made you stay and I’m the only one to blame. I know that it’s a little too late. This is everything I didn’t say.


	18. Chapter 18

“So, Louis was weird today.” Niall said as he and Harry sat in the grass outside the library.  
Harry hummed as he lay down, hands behind his head. He slipped his sunglasses on as he tried to forget about it.  
He had been quiet all day. The desperation and complete devastation that was all over Louis’ face had been burned into his memory.  
Louis had laid his heart out for him in the café and when Harry had tried to find him so that he could tell him how he really felt, he couldn’t.  
And now Louis was probably off somewhere, upset because Harry hadn’t told him anything back and Harry couldn’t do anything about it because the boy was just too damn good at hiding.  
His heart ached just thinking about it.  
“What happened?” Niall asked, coping Harry as he laid down beside him.  
Harry let out a long breath.  
“With what?” He answered, trying to avoid the topic.  
“Louis.” Niall asked again.  
“What happened with Louis?” He asked again.  
“He was weird today.” Niall repeated, beginning to get annoyed as he realized what Harry was doing.  
“When?”  
“This morning!” He exclaimed. “I swear, Harry...” The blonde let out a laugh. “What happened?”  
“Nothing.” Harry shrugged. He didn’t want to explain the whole story because that required going all the way back to the start and telling Niall everything.  
“Harry, come on.” Niall answered, leaning up on one elbow to look at him “I know something’s up.”  
“Don’t worry.” He brushed him off with a brief smile. He really didn’t want to relive the hurt from the past few weeks.  
Harry decided to pull out the book he was meant to read for class to occupy time as they laid in the sun.   
Turning to the first page, he began and tuned out the world.  
Niall realized this halfway through his sentence.   
“Surely something’s going on, otherwise you wouldn’t be acting… Harry? Harry?” Niall stopped when he saw Harry begin to read, and stop paying attention to him. “You’re not listening to me, are you?” He waited a second, but Harry didn’t even acknowledge him. “No? Okay then.”  
Niall let out a long sigh and laid down beside him, putting his hands behind his head as he tried not to worry about his best friend.  
Harry was easy to read, Niall thought. His emotions were always written all over his face, so when he was eerily quiet and blank faced, Niall couldn’t help but worry.  
But Harry didn’t want his help, which made him even more anxious.   
“Harry?” Niall said quietly. “Harry?”  
He waved a hand in front of the book, hoping Harry would make a noise, anything, just acknowledging he was there.   
Niall just wanted to make sure Harry was okay, and so far, the green-eyed boy was making it difficult to tell.   
Thankfully, Harry hummed before turning to face his friend, keeping the book perched on his chest so he could read it.  
“You know I’m here for you, right?” He questioned. “If you ever want to talk.”  
“Yeah,” Harry answered, looking back to the book with a quick smile. “Thanks.”  
Niall watched him for a minute as he went back into the world of the story he was reading about and wondered what was going through his head.  
It was obviously about Louis and why they were both acting odd at the café, but it was clear he wasn’t going to talk.  
Niall let out a long breath and closed his eyes, enjoying the sun as he vowed to himself that he would be there for Harry, even if he didn’t want him to be.  
“Do you still love Louis?” Niall asked out of the blue, making Harry drop his book.  
“What?” He asked, all pretense of being mad over not being able to find Louis was gone.  
“Zayn told me that you and Liam broke up.” Niall continued. “Was it because you love Louis? Because we all see how you two are together.”  
“You see that?” Harry gulped, becoming flustered. “Shit. I-I didn’t realize-”  
“So you do?” Niall squealed making Harry minorly freak out.  
“I-I,” He stuttered. “I- um, yeah?”  
“Does Louis know that?” Niall asked. “Because I think he loves you too-”  
“He does.” Harry stated with a nod.  
“How do you know-”  
“He told me this morning.” Harry answered guiltily. “T-That’s why he was so weird this morning. He told me how he felt and I didn’t get to answer. And now he probably thinks I don’t feel the same way which is totally the opposite of what I really feel and-”  
“Harry you’ve got to go and find him!” Niall urged with a laugh, cutting off his rambling.  
Harry sighed and ran a hand over his face. “But I couldn’t find him. I looked all morning.”  
“Don’t be dumb,” Niall chastised, smacking Harry on the back of his head playfully. “You need to look harder. He’s a person, he’s not that hard to find.”  
“O-Okay,” Harry answered, stumbling as he scrambled to stand up along with Niall.  
He threw his book in his bag as a smile made its way onto his face. “Let’s go.”  
Niall gave him a nod before they both started walking off the grass to find Harry’s love.  
.  
On the other side of town, Louis and Zayn were playing video games.  
“Ha!” Louis exclaimed, throwing down his controller onto the couch. “I win!”  
“Yeah yeah,” Zayn laughed, still determined. “Rematch, mate.”  
“So I can beat your ass again?” Louis chuckled. “I mean, if you really want. I’ll grab some drinks.”  
Louis got up and went into the next room. The moment he was out of sight, his smile slipped away.   
He had been trying to keep it together in front of Zayn because he didn’t want him to ask questions.  
So he opened the fridge and put the two cans on the counter, taking a minute for himself.  
He let out a breath and wiped his eyes as he remembered what happened at the café.  
He spilt his heart to Harry and when he didn’t answer him, he was hurt. Though he understood. Harry was with Liam and Louis didn’t want to mess with that, but he thought that maybe Harry loved him too, regardless.  
He was wrong.  
He took a deep breath, grabbed the cans and painted the smile back on before emerging back into the lounge with Zayn.  
“Here,” He said, placing it down in front of him and picking up his controller again. “Let’s do this.”  
So they started the game and played for a while, shouting and laughing, until Zayn brought it up.  
“I spoke to Liam today.” He said out of the blue, rapidly pressing buttons. “He told me something.”  
Louis paused the game and looked at Zayn questioningly. “What?” He asked.  
“He, uh, he told me…” Zayn ran a hand through his hair as he stuttered. “Um.”  
“Oh just spit it out already!” Louis laughed.  
“Um, he said… that he and Harry broke up yesterday.” Zayn said quickly, biting his lip nervously.  
Louis’ false happiness vanished as the words sunk in.  
“Yesterday?” He whispered.  
“Y-Yeah.” Zayn answered, knowing Louis would react like this.  
“B-But, but Harry came over to my apartment last night.” He confessed. “He never said anything about it…”  
“Well, he said it was late last night,” Zayn offered. “Maybe it happened after he’d been at your place.”  
“O-Oh.” Louis breathed, taking it all in.  
Then, it hit him.   
Harry and Liam had broken up. Broken up. Like, they were no longer dating and Harry was single again.  
“Do you know why?” Louis asked as he leant back into the couch.  
“Uh, no.” Zayn answered, but to Louis, it sounded a little like a question.  
“Do you?” Louis asked again, his voice getting higher and higher.  
“No.” Zayn said more confidently. “No I don’t.”  
But he did. He just really didn’t want to tell Louis, otherwise he could lose it and want to go and see him.  
“Was it because of me?” Louis whispered, tears forming in his eyes. “Did I ruin his relationship because of my stupid mouth. God, why can’t I keep quiet.” He threw his hands up and stood as he paced.  
“Wait, what?” Zayn asked. “You said something to him? To Harry? What did you say?”  
“Um,” Louis mumbled. “I told him the truth.”  
“Is this why you were so quiet this morning at the café?” Zayn questioned, more sincerely as Louis sat back down.”  
“I told him I love him.” He whispered, his head in his hands as the first tear dropped to the floor. “And he couldn’t bring himself to answer me.”  
“Oh, Louis.” Zayn said sympathetically, resting a hand on his back. “And that’s why you were upset this morning?”  
Louis nodded, keeping his head down.  
“Z?” Louis said eventually, looking up at his friend. “Do you know why they broke up?” He asked again as he wiped his eyes.  
Zayn nodded and Louis’ breath hitched.  
“You have to tell me.” He continued. “I have to know if it was all my fault, if I ruined his relationship because of my dumb confession.”  
“It wasn’t dumb.” Zayn answered, rubbing his back. “Liam told me, uh, he told me that, um, they broke up because, well, because Harry is still in love with you.”  
Louis jaw dropped to the floor.  
“What?” He breathed, all the air gone out of him.  
“Liam told Harry that he should go back to you because Harry’s in love with you.”  
“H-He is?” Louis asked.   
“Trust me,” Zayn nodded. “He is.”  
A smile crept onto Louis face as he stood up and nodded to himself.  
“O-Okay.” He said as he raced around the room, gathering his things. “Okay. O-Okay. I-I, I need to find him. I need to find him.”  
“Yeah.” Zayn agreed. “Let me know how it goes!”  
“Yep.” Louis shouted as he went down the hallway to the front door, swinging it open. “Bye!” He yelled right before the door closed with a bang.  
.  
If you could see that I’m the one who understands you. Been here all along so why can’t you see, you belong with me?


	19. Chapter 19

Harry and Niall headed across the grass from where they’d been lying a few moments ago as Harry rambled his head off.  
“I think he had psychology on Wednesday afternoons-” He said as he and Niall tried to figure out what class Louis might be in. “But I don’t know. I’m not sure if he still has that then, or if he changed it to Fridays. Or maybe he had English language on Fridays-”  
“Harry,” Niall cut him off with a laugh. “He still has Psych this afternoon, calm down.”  
“Oh, u-um. Okay!” Harry laughed nervously.  
“C’mon, the building’s over here.” Niall shook his head and lead them to the big, brick, building.  
“Do we know what room?” Niall asked.  
“603.” Harry answered straight away, still knowing from when he used to meet Louis after class.  
“That was quick.” His blonde friend looked at him questioningly.  
“I still remember.” Harry grinned.  
“You know,” Niall piped up. “Some people would call you a stalker.”  
“And some people would say it’s just love.” Harry answered with heart eyes as he smiled thinking about it.  
“Sap.” Niall slapped his shoulder as the two entered the building and took a lift up to the 6th level to search for his room.  
“It’s this way.” Harry lead the way as soon as the doors were open and they rounded a corner.  
But once they got to the room, Harry’s face fell. The door was open and there were no students in the lecture theatre.  
It was empty, only the professor left as he gathered some papers on his desk at the front.  
“Oh.” Harry said, his eyebrows furrowing just as the professor noticed them standing in the doorway.  
“Um,” The man said, catching their attention. “Can I help you with anything?”  
“O-Oh,” Harry stuttered. “U-Uh.”  
“Actually,” Niall butted in, seeing Harry struggle with his words. “We were wondering what class this was?”  
“I just dismissed my last class of the day about half an hour ago.” The man smiled. “Psych 101.”  
“101?” Harry whispered to his friend. “That’s not his class.”  
Niall simple pushed him away.  
“Uh, did you teach a second year class today?” He asked. “With a, Louis Tomlinson, in it?”  
The professor looked at him sadly and shook his head.  
“No, sorry.” He answered with a small smile. “But I think Mr Fiero might have. You can check with him if you like? His office is on the ground floor.”  
Harry sighed and ran a hand over his face before stepping away and out of sight.  
“Well thank you.” Niall gave the man a smile before moving out of the doorway.  
He turned around to see Harry already walking to the lifts.  
“C’mon, Nialler.” He called out. “We haven’t got all day!”  
Niall shook his head at his best friend and jogged to catch up with him. He reached Harry just as he was pressing the button to go down.  
“Harry!” A group of girls were approaching them that Niall recognized as a few of Harry’s friends from one of his classes, probably yoga.  
“Hi El!” Harry answered with a wave as the four of the came to a halt in front of them. “Hey girls.”  
The girl, Eleanor, reached forward to put a hand on his upper arm as she smiled, the rest of the girls all looking equally as pleased.  
“How are y-”  
“I’m really sorry,” Harry interrupted her as Niall decided to stand and press the lift button over and over, hoping it would make the thing come faster. “But I’m actually super busy at the moment, I’m trying to find Louis. It’s an emergency” He explained.  
“Yeah,” Niall whispered under his breath with a chuckle. “A love emergency.”  
But apparently Harry heard him and elbowed him in the side to shut him up while the girls all giggled.  
“Oh!” One of the other girls, Jess, chirped. “We had Psych with him earlier!”  
“Really?” Harry’s face lit up. “How long ago did it finish?”  
“Oh, I don’t know,” She thought, looking to her friends. “Maybe 1? He stayed back to talk to Mr Fiero then left with Zayn.”  
“Ni!” Harry spun around. “What time is it?”  
“Uh,” Niall checked his watch. “3.”  
“Um, we should go to the café.” Harry suggested. “Maybe he’s there.”  
The lift made a tinging noise, signaling it’s arrival just before the doors opened.  
“Gotta go!” Niall said to the girls, grabbing Harry’s arm to pull him inside. “We’ll see you later!”  
Harry waved and tried to say goodbye as well, but the doors closed on him.  
He had been smiling the whole time, unable to shake his feeling of true happiness. He was just so excited to see Louis and tell him the truth, no more hiding their feelings.  
“Where do you think he’d be?” Niall asked and Harry shook his head.  
“I don’t know,” He answered. “He could be anywhere on campus, maybe he and Z went to kick the football?”  
Harry smiled, still giddy with delight after finding out about Louis’ feelings just a few minutes before.  
“Yeah maybe,” Niall nodded thoughtfully. “We could walk past the park before going to check the café?”  
“Good plan.” Harry nodded, with a smile. “Ah, I just can’t wait to find him!”  
“I know I know.” Niall laughed, the two sharing a hi-five before the doors opened and they made their way across campus.  
Once they got to the park, they kept their eyes peeled for their two friends.  
There were quite a few people there as it was a relatively nice day out. Students were everywhere, lying around with their friends and kicking footballs around or throwing rugbies.  
“I don’t see him.” Harry sighed, looking to Niall who hummed in agreeance.  
“Yeah, I’m not sure they’re here.” He commented, looking around as they walked around the outside of the grass on the path.  
“Maybe they’re getting food?” Harry suggested. “They could be at the café, or maybe that diner Lou likes!” he chirped. “He loves that place, he says the burgers are great-”  
“Harry, shut up.” Niall laughed, cutting him off. “I get that you love him, but you need to shut up about him for more than 2 seconds at a time.” He laughed, punching his shoulder.  
“Whatever,” Harry shrugged. “I’m not ashamed. I love him.”  
Then, he stopped in the middle of the path and gave Niall a devilish smile.  
“Harry,” Niall rolled his eyes playfully. “Come on, lets go.”  
Harry shook his head as he smiled, taking a few steps backwards, grinning like an idiot.  
“I LOVE HIM!” He shouted, arms stretched out wide as he spun around in a circle laughing. “I LOVE LOUIS!”  
“Harry!” Niall laughed, grabbing his arm and pulling him forwards. “Come on, you loser.”  
“I’m a loser in love.” He hummed happily, practically skipping across the road to the café.  
When they got to the café, Harry was still happily in a daze, greeting the waitresses with a charming smile.  
However, Louis wasn’t there, but that still didn’t break Harry, he was determined.  
“Damn,” Niall said as they stepped back outside. “Where now?”  
Harry shrugged. “Maybe, uh, hm…” He tapped his chin as he thought.  
“They could be a Z’s place?” Niall suggested.  
“Good idea, Nialler!” Harry exclaimed, giving him a huge hug before pulling him in the right direction.  
“You’re crazy.” Niall answered, laughing to himself as Harry dragged him down the street.  
“I bet that’s where they are, playing FIFO or whatever.” Harry continued.  
“FIFO?” Niall asked, trying to hold back his laughter, but failing.   
“Yeah, that football game.” Harry continued, unaware.  
“It’s called FIFA, Harry.” Niall laughed, clutching his stomach.   
“Whatever,” Harry pouted. “It’s one of Lou’s favourites. I bet that’ what they’re doing.”  
“Okay,” Niall answered, still laughing but managing to get it under control.  
“Come on,” Harry exclaimed, pulling his friend faster. “Let’s go! I need to find him!”  
“You will, don’t worry.” Niall reassured him.  
“I know, I know,” Harry answered, his smile faltering for the first time that afternoon. “But I’ve been waiting for this since the moment we broke up, I need this, I need him.”  
“Harry,” Niall put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to find him and you’re going to tell him how you feel.”  
Harry nodded, taking a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right.” He replied as he tried to reassure himself. “Let’s go.”  
.  
I don’t care what people say when we’re together, I know you wanna leave so come on baby be with me so Happily.


	20. Chapter 20

Meanwhile, Louis had just left Zayn’s apartment himself to go and find Harry.  
He jogged down the stairs, two at a time until he jumped off the bottom one and headed towards the door with a smile on his face.  
Where would Harry be? He wondered as he sniffled one last time and wiped the last tears from his face.  
He wasn’t upset anymore, he was excited and ecstatic, but the remnants of his emotional confession were still on his face.  
He opened the door and headed towards the building where he thought Harry’s last class would have been, hoping he was still there.  
He stuffed his hands deep in his pockets as he made his way towards campus to find his love.  
As he went, he couldn’t help but think about everything that the two of them had been through and how it all led to that moment.  
He was so sorry, more than he had ever been before, for letting Harry go that day. He should never have broken up with him to begin with.  
And he couldn’t believe that it took loosing the most incredible boy in the world for him to realize it.  
Harry was so special and he knew from the bottom of his heart there was no way he was ever going to let him go again.  
Once he got to the building, Louis went straight to the stairs.  
“Louis!”  
At the sound of his name, he spun around to see some of girls from his psych class heading towards him. Eleanor, Jess and two others he didn’t know.   
“Hey!” Louis answered with a brief smile before turning back around and continuing up the stairs. He had no time to chat with them today.  
“No, wait!” Eleanor called out, making him groan before turning back around.  
“I really don’t have time.” He apologized. “Sorry, but I’ve got to find Harry.”  
“Yeah, we spoke to him literally like, 5 minutes ago.” She explained with a laugh. “He was looking for you.”  
“Oh, really?” Louis’ face lit up. Harry was looking for me? He thought excitedly.  
“Yeah, he was at the psych rooms in building A.” She continued. “He seemed really eager to see you.”  
“Yeah.” Louis breathed, heart-eyes turned on at the thought of Harry wanting to speak to him. “O-Okay, I’ll go check there.”  
He pushed past her and went back down the stairs to find the other building, when Eleanor grabbed his arm.  
“What-”  
“If you would stop rushing around for a second and just listen.” She laughed with a roll of her eyes. “He was with Niall and they said something about going to check the café to see if you were there.”  
“Okay!” Louis chirped. “Thanks!” He kissed her cheek lightly as he was so grateful and ran from the building with a smile.  
When the sunlight hit him as he emerged from the building, he pulled out his sunglasses and put them on.  
“Now, if I were Harry, where would I be?” He said to himself. He decided he was going to go past the café first, then maybe past the grassy area where Harry and Niall usually sat to see if he was there.  
Once he arrived at the café, he stuck his head inside, looked around quickly before deciding that he wasn’t in there.  
Then he walked through the park, not there either, and finally towards Harry’s building again in the hopes that he and Niall would be lounging in the grass.  
But no, he wasn’t there.  
Louis let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on a wall outside A building, trying to think of where he could be.  
If Harry was looking for him, then where would he be looking?  
He ran a hand through his hair and took his jacket off as he relaxed, trying to think.  
If Harry was with Niall, he could be anywhere. They might have given up looking and gone to the shops or the cinema or something. Who knows?  
All of a sudden, all of Louis’ happy energy had depleted and he was just worried that maybe Harry was looking for him for a different reason than he thought. Maybe he didn’t want the same thing Louis did.  
“Louis? Hey mate!” Louis looked up to see an old friend of his coming towards him.  
“Hey Stan.” He answered halfheartedly.   
“What’s up?” Stan asked, sitting next to his friend as he sensed something was wrong.  
“I just,” Louis let out a long breath. “I need to find Harry, but I can’t.”  
“Oh, really?” He replied. “Is it important?”  
“Yeah.” Louis breathed. “I need to tell him I love him.”  
“Oh that’s great! But didn’t you guys break up?” Stan asked, confused.  
“Yeah,” Louis explained, “But we both know that was a mistake and after everything that’s happened over the past few weeks, we both realized that we need each other. But I haven’t told him that. I need to!”  
“Okay, mate.” Stan patted his shoulder and stood up. “Well, if I were Harry, where would I be?”  
“I don’t know,” Louis answered. “I’ve been told he’s looking for me too, so he keeps moving and I don’t know where he could be.”  
“Okay, If I were Harry and I was looking for you, my first thought would be Zayn.” Stan explained as he stood infront of his friend. “Or maybe your apartment?”  
Louis facepalmed.   
“I can’t believe I didn’t check there.” Louis stood up too. “He’s probably at either mine or his own place and I know he’s not with Z, by the way, because I was with him.”  
“Okay, well there you go!” Stan clapped his hands. “I have a class to get to, but I’m glad to have helped. Go get ‘em, tiger!”  
Louis laughed as Stan patted his back and walked away, leaving Louis go to search for Harry again.  
He went to Harry’s apartment first and there was no one there.  
Then, he checked his apartment, hoping Harry would be waiting for him, but again, it was deserted.  
He let out a long sigh.  
Maybe Harry had given up on the search and went out with Niall. His smile fell and he decided to head back to Zayn’s place, hoping FIFA would take his mind of things.  
And besides, he always felt better after kicking Zayn’s ass at video games.  
.  
If you love someone, then tell them right now, cause your heart won’t rest, till you let it out.


	21. Chapter 21

Louis trudged back to Zayn’s apartment in a strop. He was sure he’d be able to find Harry and that Harry was looking for him too, but being unable to find him had gotten his spirits down.  
He sniffled as the cold wind hit him and he realized in all his excitement, he’d forgotten his jacket. And it was quite cold.  
He wrapped his arms around him and kept his head down as he turned onto Zayn’s street.  
A rogue tear dripped from his eye, but he didn’t want to remove the warmth of his arms to wipe it away, so it let it fall down his face.  
Maybe he was wrong.  
Maybe Harry wasn’t looking for him anymore and he didn’t care the way that Louis thought he did.  
With that stuck in his mind, he pushed open the door to Zayn’s building and started on the stairs to his door.  
Once he got there, he knocked, but entered anyway like he usually did.  
“Hey,” He sighed, looking down when he stepped in. “I couldn’t find him anywhere, and I could really use a drink.”   
He turned around to close the door and kick his shoes off, shivering a little as he did.  
“I-” He began again, turning around with red eyes.  
But his breath hitched and he broke off when he saw the sight in front of him.  
Zayn was sitting on the couch, Xbox controller in hand which he completely expected. But it was something else that made him freeze in his place.  
Niall was sitting next to him, controller also in his hand as they played something.  
Then there was the one person Louis needed to see more than anyone, right where he needed him to be.  
Blue met green.  
“Louis.” Harry breathed, standing up when he saw him.  
“H-Harry?” Louis stuttered, jaw dropped as he stood there, staring into his eyes.  
“Zayn?” Niall whispered to the raven haired boy next to him.  
“And that’s our cue.” Zayn answered him as he stopped the game and the two of them stood up.  
They moved around Harry and Louis, who were still wordlessly staring at each other, and headed towards the door.  
“Lou?” Zayn tried to catch his attention, making the shorter boy spin around to face him.  
Zayn and Niall were standing in the doorway, jackets in hand.  
“Hm?” He asked.  
“We’re going out,” Zayn smiled. “We’ll be back later, text if you need me.”  
Louis smiled and nodded, hugging Zayn tightly.  
“Thank you.” He whispered before Zayn and Niall left the apartment.  
Louis turned back around slowly, his eyes closed in case it was all a dream and he didn’t want his hope to be shattered.  
He slowly opened them to see Harry looking down at the ground nervously, toeing his shoes.  
“Hi,” Louis began, a small smile creeping onto his face.  
“Hey.” Harry answered, shoving his hands in his pockets as a smile appeared on his face too.  
“H-How are you?” Harry asked with a shrug.  
“Good.” Louis nodded. “You?”  
“Yeah, yeah.” Harry answered. “I’m good.”  
“Good.” Louis agreed, leaving them in an awkward silence.  
They both looked around, knowing what they wanted to say but unsure how to say it.  
“I-“  
“Um-”  
They both spoke at the same time, then stopped and laughed nervously.  
“Sorry.” Harry chuckled.  
“M’sorry,” Louis answered with a giggle. “You go first.”  
“Uh, okay.” Harry agreed, looking down before looking back up again. “About this morning…”  
“Yeah?” Louis’ face lit up, hoping that he was going to say what he hoped he was going to say.  
“Y-You said something.” Harry looked down, frowning. “And I didn’t get to answer you.”  
“O-Oh,” Louis’ face fell at Harry’s expression. To him, it looked like Harry didn’t feel the same way, so Louis did what he thought would protect himself. “You don’t have to-”  
“No.” Harry cut him off, taking a step forward before continuing in a softer voice. “I’m not letting you get away again.”  
Their foreheads were almost touching as Harry looked down into Louis’ eyes. The blue orbs were filling with tears and Louis was trying his hardest not to cry.   
Harry smiled and took Louis hands, holding them in between their chests as he took a deep breath.  
“I’m done running from you.” Harry continued. “I’m done pretending that we’re both okay when we’re not. I’m not going to let you leave me again.”  
Louis nodded as Harry smiled and leant closer to him.  
“You told me that you still had feelings for me.” Harry whispered. “Is that still true?”  
Louis gulped and nodded.  
“Yes.” He answered in a shaky voice. “Y-Yes.”  
Louis’ plan to not cry was failing, but it wasn’t because of sadness, it was happy tears.  
“Good,” Harry whispered, his face getting closer and closer to Louis’. “Because I feel the same way, Lou.”  
Harry moved his hands to Louis’ waist, holding him against his body as Louis’ hands moved to Louis’ cheeks.  
“Y-You do?” Louis asked. “Zayn told me that you broke up with Liam because you still love me, but I wasn’t sure-”  
“It’s true.” Harry interrupted, his eyes sparkling. “I feel horrible for what I did to Liam, but I couldn’t ignore my feelings anymore.”  
“H-Harry.” Louis’ eyes fluttered closed as their lips brushed.  
“I love you, Louis. Only you.” Harry reassured him, his eyes also closing.   
Their lips brushed again as Louis’ breath hitched, but then Harry pulled away so he could look into his eyes.  
“Will you have me back?” Harry asked. “Because there is no one in this world who I want to be with more than you.”  
Louis bit his bottom lip as his eyes filled with fresh tears.   
“I should be asking you that.” Louis nearly sobbed. “I’ve screwed up so many times.”  
“No you haven’t.” Harry stopped him. “Please?”   
So Louis nodded as hard as he could.  
“Yes.” He whispered, their foreheads resting together. “Yes, please.”  
And with that, Harry crashed his lips down onto Louis’, feeling the beautiful boy’s mouth on his moving perfectly in sync.  
Louis whimpered as Harry’s tongue swiped over his bottom lip, but he pulled back, there was something he needed to say.  
“I love you, Harry.” Louis told him, pouring his heart into it. “I love you so much.”  
They kissed again, and again, and again, tears mixing into it as they relished being in each other’s arms and being against each other once again.  
They soon found themselves on the couch, Louis’ head resting on Harry’s shoulder as he cuddled into his side.  
Harry was running his hands through Louis’ eyes as they simply held each other, wanting to be as close as possible.  
“Harry?” Louis asked, looking up into his eyes.  
“Hm?” Harry answered, his fingers carding through Louis’ soft hair as he pressed a kiss to Louis’ temple.  
“I-I’m sorry.” He apologized. “For everything I put you through.”  
“Don’t apologise,” Harry soothed. “Just- Please don’t do it again. My heart wouldn’t be able to take it.”  
“I promise.” Louis looked into his eyes as Harry leaned down to him. “I was so wrong to let you leave that night. I’m so so sorry.”  
“Shhh,” Harry consoled him, pulling him into a tight hug. “You don’t need to talk about it. It’s in the past. We have each other now, that’s all that matters.”  
Louis nodded against his chest and hugged him back, arms tightly around his neck.  
“You have me.” Louis confirmed. “And I’m not going to let you go.”  
“I love you.” Harry whispered into his hair as he kissed the top of his head.  
“I love you too.” Louis answered, looking up into Harry’s and pressing a kiss to his lips.  
.  
This love is good, this love is bad, this love is alive, back from the dead. These hands had to let it go free and… this love came back to me.


	22. Chapter 22

“I love you.” Harry whispered into Louis’ hair as he kissed the top of his head.  
He didn’t think Louis would answer with the same. All through their relationship, Harry had been the one who was madly in love while Louis just enjoyed the ride.  
He knew Louis cared about him, but he never told Harry that and never felt as much as Harry did.   
Harry was always guessing and hoping Louis felt the same about him.  
That was partly why they broke up, because Harry was far too into the relationship and Louis never felt as deeply.  
So when the words came from Louis mouth, Harry nearly started crying.  
“I love you too.” Louis answered, looking up into Harry’s and pressing a kiss to his lips.  
Harry’s breath hitched when the words tumbled from Louis’ perfect mouth. For so long he had wanted to hear Louis say it.  
For so long, Harry had been in love with him, yearning to hear him say it back but he never had.  
Until then.  
So as Louis’ lips hit his, Harry’s arms tightened around him, holding him closer than ever before.  
He pressed his lips against Louis’ as lovingly as he could, trying to put everything into it.  
Louis pulled back and looked up at Harry, but frowned when he saw his face.  
Harry had let the tears escape, unexplainable happiness taking over him. His heart swelled and he swore he just fell even further for Louis.  
“Harry?” he asked, cupping his cheek. “Are you alright?”  
Harry sniffled and wiped his eyes, letting out a light laugh. “Y-Yeah,” He stuttered. “I’m fine, it’s just…”  
He shook his head and smiled, staring down into Louis’ eyes.  
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear you say those words.” Harry whispered, his forehead resting on Louis’ as he closed his eyes.  
“Harry…” Louis breathed, surprised. “I-I love you. I do. I love you.” He nodded along as he spoke before he leaned up and kissed him again.  
“Harry Styles.” He said after he pulled back. “I am in love with you.”  
Louis stroked Harry’s cheek as he started crying. “Don’t cry, love.” Louis told him with a smile.  
“I-I’m sorry.” Harry laughed, wiping his eyes again. “I-I… I’m just… happy.” He shrugged and gave Louis a squeeze.  
“So I am.” Louis answered with a smile, wrapping his arms around Harry’s neck as he hugged him back.  
“I don’t know if I can ever tell you how sorry I am.” Harry shook his head. “For all the shit I put you through with Li-”  
Harry cut himself off from saying his name, as he knew how upset it made Louis.  
Louis bit his lip and scooted away, suddenly feeling a little unsure.  
“I’m sorry-” Harry tried, to hold him again, but Louis stood up.  
“I need a minute.” Louis said quietly, walking around the room as he stared at the floor.  
After a few seconds, Harry stood up too and waited for Louis to stop and look up at him with uncertain eyes.  
The two just stood in silence for a minute, unsure how to broach the topic.  
“Lou-” Harry began, turning to him and holding his hands out.  
“Don’t.” Louis held up a hand. “I don’t want to hear how sorry you are about Liam.”  
“But-” Harry tried, his eyes holding so much fear. He didn’t want Louis to leave him again all because of someone he didn’t even care about anymore.  
“I don’t want to hear you talk about him.” Louis continued. “I was there. I saw it all. I saw you two be all happy with each other.”  
“I’m so-”  
“You don’t have to be. Because its my fault.” Louis continued. “I let you go to start with. If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have gone running off to him.”   
“I didn’t mean-”  
“You don’t have to say anything.” Louis shook his head, moving into Harry’s open arms and hugging him tight. “Just, can we not ever talk about it?”  
Harry didn’t say anything for a minute, he just held him.  
“O-Okay.” He whispered. “But I want you to know, I cared about him.”  
Louis looked at him in shock, taking a few steps back, his eyes wide at Harry’s confession.  
“But I always loved you.” He continued. “The whole time, I tried to suppress it, because I thought you would never care, but it was always there, sitting strongly in my heart. It still is.”  
Louis face softened as he realized what Harry was trying to say. He loved him, in spite of the fact that he was dating someone else, Harry never lost his feelings for him.  
Harry bit his lip and looked at Louis with a small smile. “I have loved you since we were 18. I could never stop so easily.”  
“Harry…” Louis breathed with a smile. He didn’t know what to say.  
So he ran, closing the gap between them and flung himself into Harry’s arm, wrapping his arms around his neck as he hugged him. Harry picked him up off the ground and spun them around together.  
They laughed together as they spun and when Harry put him down, Louis gave him one more squeezing hug.  
“You know,” Louis began, tracing a finger down Harry’s arm. “I think these arms were made for holding me.”  
Harry let out a little laugh, nuzzling his nose in Louis’ hair. “I think they were too.”  
Louis grinned like an idiot as he looked back up at Harry.  
“Be my boyfriend again.” Harry said, looking into his eyes as he smiled back. “I want you, Lou.”  
“Of course I will, Harry.” Louis shook his head in amusement. “That’s not even a question.”  
Harry beamed before leaning down to capture his lips in his own, kissing him deeply.  
Louis’ tongue swiped across Harry’s bottom lip, making him moan and open his mouth willingly.  
Louis jumped and wrapped his legs around Harry’s waist as Harry’s hands went to his bum and gave it a squeeze.  
He walked them over to the couch, still kissing him and laid Louis down before crawling on top of him, never breaking their lips.  
“Haz.” Louis moaned into Harry’s mouth, making Harry’s hard on even more prominent.  
He rutted against Louis’ leg, needing friction. It was all so much, Louis could feel himself getting hard in his contracting jeans.  
“Too many clothes.” Harry mumbled, pulling Louis’ singlet up his body and over his head.  
Once it was off, Harry couldn’t control himself. He leant down, gripping Louis’ sides and started kissing up and down his exposed chest, leaving Louis mewling beneath him as he stroked his dick though his jeans.  
“H-Harry…” He moaned, gripping Harry’s hair. So Harry stopped and looked up at him through his eyelashes.  
“Don’t stop, for gods sakes.” Louis groaned, making Harry laugh, but continue sucking on his nipples and kissing his way down to Louis’ pants line.  
Louis sat up a little, moving Harry off his chest and onto his lap for a second so he could grab the bottom of Harry’s shirt, lifting it up and over his head.  
He tossed it to the side and leaned up to kiss Harry on the mouth, his hands twisting into his long hair.  
Harry moved his hands from roaming Louis’ chest, to the waistband of his pants, working on the button as Louis lay back down again.  
“W-Wait.” Louis breathed, pushing Harry up. “Y-You didn’t sleep with him, did you?”  
“Of course not.” Harry shook his head. “Its always only been you.”  
At that, Louis smiled.  
“Good,” He breathed and Harry started kissing down Louis’ neck as he managed to undo the buttons and try to slip them down Louis’ legs.  
“H-Haz…” Louis moaned, wiggling his bum so Harry could get his pants off, boxers and all so he was completely naked.  
Once they were all off, Louis pushed Harry down and climbed on top of him.  
“Louis,” Harry breathed as Louis started kissing down his body. “O-Oh my God.”  
Louis put his knees either side of Harry’s waist so he was sitting over his hardened cock, his own dick sitting on Harry’s stomach.  
Louis wasted no time in getting Harry’s jeans and underwear off, leaving them both clothesless and panting for more.  
“Do you want me to?” Louis asked Harry, who nodded vigorously.   
So Louis shuffled backwards down the couch so his face was in line with Harry’s manhood, gripped Harry’s dick and started sucking.  
“L-Lou…” Harry moaned, his back arching off the couch in pleasure as his cock got fully hard in Louis’ pretty little mouth. “S-Stop now.”  
Louis pulled off with a dirty grin and crawled back into Harry’s lap, feeling his dick pressing against his ass.  
He smiled at him and leant down to kiss Harry, hard on the mouth. As Harry’s tongue roamed the inside of Louis’ mouth, his finger went to Louis’ hole, circling it before slowly pressing one finger inside him.  
Louis moaned into Harry’s mouth when he felt it and started rocking back into his finger, needing more.  
“M-More.” Louis said against his mouth, practically begging for it as Harry broke their kiss and stopped moving his finger.  
Louis’ head fell against Harry’s shoulder as he panted.  
“C-Can you?” Harry whispered into his hair. “You know how hot I think it is when you finger yourself.”  
Louis nodded and sat up, reaching behind himself. He pressed his first finger into his hole and sat back on it, letting a moan out as he did.  
“Oh my God.” Harry breathed, stroking his own cock as he watched Louis on his lap.  
Louis pushed a two more fingers in, his face screwed up in a mixture of pain and pleasure as he rocked back onto his hand, stretching himself out.  
“R-Ready.” He breathed, taking his hand away. Harry took it and put it in his mouth, sucking on all of his fingers.  
“I love you.” He said when he was done and Louis leant forward to let Harry push the head of his dick against his entrance.  
“I love you too.” Louis answered, kissing him briefly before he felt the tip of Harry go inside him.  
“H-Haz!” Louis nearly shouted as he sat down on Harry’s dick slowly, feeling him fill him up.  
“Ugh, Louis.” Harry moaned, trying not to buck his hips up into Louis’ pretty pink hole.  
He waited a second, adjusting before starting to move up and down on Harry’s cock.  
He bounced faster and faster as he got more comfortable, little moans and noises escaping his lips.  
Harry moved his hips in time with him, trying to find the little bundle of nerves that would make Louis sing.  
“Harry!” he exclaimed, letting him know that he’d found it. Harry worked to keep hitting that spot as he felt his stomach getting warm and fuzzy.  
“I-I’m… gon-na” Harry stumbled, thrusting his hips up faster as he came deep inside Louis.  
Louis kept bouncing as he felt himself get close as well. Harry decided to help him along by stroking his cock, getting faster as Louis’ moans got higher.   
When his face scrunched up, Louis came all over Harry’s chest and let out a whimper of pleasure.  
“Oh- Harry!” He exclaimed, collapsing onto Harry’s chest with a sigh as his boyfriend pulled his dick out of his hole.  
The two of them just lay on top of each other, panting as they regained their breaths and held each other close.  
“I love you so so much.” Harry whispered into Louis’ cheek, kissing it lightly.  
Louis just hummed back, too tired to use his words, but Harry knew he meant the same thing.  
Harry chuckled lightly and ran his fingers through Louis’ hair.  
“We should clean up.” He suggested, but Louis groaned.  
“In a minute.” Louis grumbled. “Stay here first.”  
He gripped Harry around the neck, forcing them to stay lying down.  
Harry let out another laugh and kissed his head before reaching over to where his pants were strewn across the coffee table.  
He pulled them close and pulled his phone out of the pocket, checking for any messages.  
Sure enough, there was one from Zayn.  
Ni and I went to the café, come meet us there when you’re done fucking ;) ps, I hope you know you two are paying to reupholster my couch  
Harry shook his head with a smile before putting it down on the table and shaking Louis.  
“Lou,” He whispered, stroking his bare back. “C’mon, lets go shower.”  
.  
I’d get down, I’d get down, I’d get down on my knees for you


	23. Chapter 23

Once they were all cleaned up, Harry and Louis went to meet the other two at the café.  
“Here they are.” Niall laughed as they walked in, hand in hand and giggling as they sat down at the table.  
“Did you have fun?” Zayn asked. “Because I can’t sit on that couch again.”  
“Ha Ha.” Harry said sarcastically. “We cleaned up.”  
“You better have.” Zayn narrowed his eyes, making Louis laugh.  
“But it was worth it,” Louis said seductively, looking at Harry. “Wasn’t it baby?”  
“Mmm yeah.” Harry answered in the same tone, trying to make the other two uncomfortable.  
“Damn.” Niall shook his head. “I forgot how gross they are together.”  
“Yeah.” Zayn agreed, making the couple laugh together.  
“Can I have my apartment back now?” Zayn whinged, making a face as Harry and Louis just stared back, trying not to laugh. “Are you done violating it?”  
“Um,” Harry let out a nervous laugh, looking to Louis for help, but he just started laughing.  
“Finally,” Niall shook his head, clasping his hands together and looking between the two. “You have no idea how long we’ve been waiting for this.”  
“Waiting for… what?” Louis asked as Harry wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his hands on Louis hips.  
“For you two to kiss and make up!” Zayn exclaimed. “You’ve put us through torture with your stupid breakup.” He shook his head and the couple nervously laughed again.  
Louis blushed and looked down as he smiled while Harry bent down to kiss his cheek.  
“As adorably nauseating as ever.” Zayn shook his head and watched fondly, observing the sweet move.  
“You know,” Niall commented to Zayn, taking the same stance. “I always thought they were a little too much, you know, too full on. But this, actually works. They’re perfect for each other.”  
Harry and Louis just watched them in amusement, laughing to themselves at their stupid friends.  
Harry’s dimples were showing and Louis eyes were shining brightly, finally happy.  
“Wait.” Louis stopped and sat up straight as he realized something. “We’re you two outside Zayn’s door the whole time?”  
Zayn shook his head.  
“No,” Niall answered. “We didn’t know how long this whole thing would take, so we went and got snacks and then sat in the hallway until you were done. We were gonna come in and congratulate you when we heard you get back together, but then, well, we heard some things and decided to leave before it got nasty.” He finished with a grin as Harry flicked him in the head.  
“Thanks mate.” Harry smiled sarcastically. “We didn’t want any privacy or anything.”  
“Always got your back.” Niall replied, patting Harry’s arm as the curly headed boy shook his head. “But you sure took your time.”  
“To be honest, I thought it would take a week, max, for you two get back together.” Zayn confessed. “But then Liam came along…”  
“Yeah,” Niall nodded.  
Louis tensed at the mention of his name and Harry scowled that Zayn had even brought him up.  
He felt Louis’ response and tried to comfort him by stroking his hips, but Louis wiggled his way out of Harry’s grasp, suddenly not feeling quite as happy.  
“I’m sorry, I should have said something to him, considering he was my friend and all…” Zayn looked down guiltily.  
“It’s not your fault.” Harry answered sadly as Louis had scooted away from him.  
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter!” Niall clapped his hands and cheered, trying to break the dampening atmosphere. “Because everyone’s favourite couple are back together! Yay!”  
“Yeah,” Louis blushed and smiled to himself.  
Harry watched and smiled along, putting one arm around his back at hold him close.  
“And has happy as ever.” Harry added, kissing Louis’ head affectionately.  
“Hey guys!” They all looked up to see Liam standing at the head of their table.  
Louis’ face dropped as he nuzzled into Harry’s side, becoming territorial.  
“Speak of the devil.” Louis muttered.  
“Lou.” Harry warned him but Louis simply rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.  
“Hey Li!” Zayn smiled back, ignoring the other two as he made room so he could sit with them. “Glad you could make it.”  
“Hey.” Niall waved awkwardly, not wanting to be mean to him, but not wanting to betray Louis or Harry either.  
“H-Hi.” Liam said again, sitting down awkwardly with a smile as he tried to be polite.  
They all sat in silence for a minute before Liam let out a long sigh.  
“I hope this isn’t going to be weird.” Liam admitted. “Cause I think you guys are pretty cool and I want to be friends.”  
“Well, you can’t-” Louis began, but Zayn cut him off.  
“Of course you can!” Zayn said, glaring at Louis who just stared back with a horrified expression.  
“Wha-” Louis whispered.  
“Hey,” Harry cooed. “Don’t worry about him, okay.”  
Louis grumbled under his breath, but stayed quiet.   
“He’s not worth it,” Harry whispered as he kissed his temple, rubbing Louis’ leg.  
Louis rolled his eyes, threaded his arm through Harry’s and rested his head on his shoulder, clearly marking his territory.  
“Oh,” Liam nodded with a smile as he noticed them. “You got back together. Good.”  
And he wasn’t trying to be mean about it, he was genuinely happy that Harry could be with the man he was in love with.  
“Yeah.” Louis said shortly, being plastically over-nice with a grin. “We did.”  
“I really don’t want this to be weird.” Liam asked, pleadingly. “I want to be friends with you guys, but if you don’t want me here, I can leave.”  
Harry looked at Louis, silently asking him to be okay with it all.  
“Don’t be dumb.” Zayn laughed. “You staying. Its not weird at all.”  
“Yeah,” Niall agreed. “We could use a smart guy like you in our group. We’re always doing dumb shit that someone should probably tell us not to do.”  
Zayn and Niall laughed along with Liam, and even Harry joined in a little too.  
“I think you should stay too.” Harry piped up nervously. “I want to be friends, even if we did use to date.”  
“Okay,” Liam nodded. “It’s not like we even have feelings for each other anymore.” He laughed.   
“Well,” Louis scoffed, making Harry squeeze his leg in warning.  
“You don’t?” Harry asked, a little upset that he had moved on so quickly, but still happy he had.  
“Um,” Liam scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, I-I have a girlfriend.”  
“Oh that’s great!” Harry exclaimed, looking at Louis with a smile. “Isn’t it! Who is she?”  
“Her name’s Sophia.” Liam blushed. “She’s pretty great.”  
“I know her!” Zayn clicked his fingers. “She’s in Louis and I’s film class. Yeah, she seems really nice.”  
“I wanna meet her.” Niall announced. “And her friends, please. Are they hot?”  
They all laughed at that, the awkwardness disapparating immediately. They were already hanging out like they’d been friends forever.   
And Louis could see that Liam fit in with them perfectly.   
“You can stay.” Louis said in a small voice once they had all stopped and a silence over came them.  
They looked at Louis with a pleasantly surprised expression.  
“Thanks.” Liam nodded with a smile, looking around at all of them before he, Zayn and Niall fell into a conversation, ignoring the couple.  
“Louis…” Harry whispered to him, stroking his hand. He was so happy that Louis had said that.  
“I’m okay with it, I think.” Louis nodded, looking back at Harry with a small smile. “I know you love me and not him, so… I’m okay.”  
“I do, I love you.” Harry answered him, bringing his hand up so he could kiss it. “So much. Besides, Liam’s a cool guy. You’ll be friends before you know it.”  
Louis hummed and leaned up to kiss him.  
The other three had stopped talking when they started kissing, it being a little off-putting.  
“You’ll get used to them.” Niall waved a hand at them as they watched them kiss. “They’ve always been overly affectionate. But its actually quite cute once you’re used to all the touching and kissing.”  
“Yeah, they are.” Liam agreed, watching fondly.   
“Yeah we are.” Louis giggled, pulling back just to make fun of the others.  
Zayn rolled his eyes. “Always so cocky, Tomlinson.”  
“Well,” Louis flicked his imaginary long hair over his shoulder like a teenage girl, making them all laugh.  
And they sat like that in the café, laughing and talking for most of the afternoon.  
And they were happy, all of them.  
Especially Harry and Louis, who had finally found their Prince Charming, even after all the drama it took getting there.  
.  
“What if we can’t walk through mirrors, because our reflection blocks us?” Louis wondered.  
Harry and Louis were walking through the park, hand in hand as they made their way back to Harry’s apartment.  
They’d been at the café for a while before deciding that they should probably head home.  
“Yeah, but what if our reflections are protecting us from some, scary alternate universe that lies through the mirror?”  
“You think mirror’s are evil?” Louis laughed. “Maybe there’s some kind of monster on the other side…”  
“Maybe,” Harry looked at him with a glint in his eye. “We’re the reflection.”  
“Oh my god.” Louis breathed. “We’re like, protectors of some evil galaxy.”  
“Guardians of the Galaxy!” Harry exclaimed, making them both burst out laughing as they turned onto Harry’s street.  
“Can we watch that when we get home!?” Louis asked. “Please?”  
“Of course, love.” Harry laughed as they walked into Harry’s building and got into the lift.  
“Yay!” Louis squealed, throwing his arms around him and kissing him as the elevator doors closed on them.  
“You’re in a weird mood.” Harry observed when they pulled back, still holding Louis in his arms. “Its so cute.”  
“I’m just happy.” Louis shrugged.  
“Good,” Harry smiled, pecking his nose. “So am I.”  
“You know, taco cat spelled backwards is still taco cat.” Louis said out of the blue as the elevator doors opened.  
“That’s great, Lou.” Harry shook his head and fished for his keys as they exited the lift and walked down the hallway.  
Then, Louis had an idea.  
“You know...” Louis said again, this time much more sexually as they came to a stop by Harry’s front door.  
Harry had bent down a little to unlock his front door, so Louis came up behind him and put his arms around him, running his hands up and down his chest.  
“Dog food lid spelled backwards, is dildo of God.” He whispered in his ear, nibbling his earlobe sensually.  
Louis quickly grabbed Harry’s crotch playfully, making Harry squeak.  
Luckily, Harry had just unlocked the door when he spluttered and froze at Louis’ information.  
He had no idea what to even say. Just from Louis’ words and that quick touch, Harry was turned on and caught off guard.  
Louis just laughed and removed his hands, leaving Harry flustered and standing in the doorway as he went inside.  
“Can we watch the movie now?” Louis asked, skipping down the hallway and into the living room to find the film.  
He bent down in front of the TV cabinet and starting looking for it when he heard the front door close.  
“You can’t just do that and expect me to let you get away with it.” Harry announced himself, leaning in the doorway with a lazy smile as he watched Louis.  
“After the movie, babe.” Louis winked, putting in the disk and going to sit on the couch.  
Harry simply smiled and shook his head.  
“Do you want a drink?” He asked as he went into the kitchen.  
“Whatever you’re having will be fine.” Louis shouted back, snuggling under a blanket as the film began.  
Harry came back into the room, put the drinks down and climbed onto the couch, pulling Louis and the blanket into his lap.  
He kissed the top of Louis’ head affectionately and gave him a squeeze, making Louis hum in response.  
“I’m so happy, Haz.” Louis said out of the blue. “I’m so happy we’re back on track.”  
“So I am.” Harry agreed.  
“I don’t want to lose you again.” Louis whispered, resting his head on Harry’s chest.  
“You’re not going to. Ever.” Harry told him. “You’re stuck with me.”  
“Good.” Louis whispered, turning around in Harry’s arms to kiss him.  
“I love you, Harry Styles.” He said as he pulled back and settled back into his embrace.  
“I love you too, Louis Tomlinson.” Harry answered, holding him tight as they watched the rest of the film together.  
Before the movie had even finished, Louis had fallen asleep under the blanket peacefully.  
Harry looked down at his blissful face and kissed his nose, amazed at the fact that he had gotten Louis back.  
He stared down as he realized, he had never been happier or more in love than he was in that moment.   
Tangled up together under the blanket, Harry silently wished that they could stay like that forever.  
As he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he knew that they would, because he wasn’t done falling for Louis yet, and he wasn’t going to be done for a long time.  
And no matter how quickly things changed around them, they would always stay the same.  
Because they’re Harry and Louis, and no matter what they go through, they could handle anything that came their way.   
Neither of them were willing to give up again, and they didn’t.   
So when Harry proposed to Louis, he of course said yes.  
When the question of children came up, they of course adopted.  
And when they grew old, they played with their grandkids everyday.  
And never stopped loving each other.  
.  
does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes, it’ll never change me and you


End file.
